The chaotic state of China’s shared power bank market has recently come under scrutiny. On Aug. 30, Chinese state media “The Paper” reported the market for renting mobile phone chargers has been plagued by illegal practices involving consumers’ personal information, including excessive data collection, forced data acquisition, inducement, and unauthorized use. The Cyberspace Administration Office in Shanghai has acknowledged the prevalence of these matters and announced plans for a crackdown.
Forced Collection of Personal Information
The report revealed that several shared charging device brands in the market, including C-Power, Dian Baobao, Hermal Power, and others, demand consumers’ mobile phone numbers, WeChat nicknames, avatars, and other personal information even before initiating the code-scanning process for renting. Furthermore, these companies make it challenging for users to cancel their accounts.Excessive collection of personal information is also an issue with major players in the regular power bank market. Recently, undercover tests conducted by The Paper reporters on prominent shared power banks in Shanghai uncovered problems such as difficulty deactivating accounts, frequent location requests, difficulty in logging out of accounts, and the inability to disable targeted push notifications.
For example, Meituan Power Bank requested location information four times and a mobile phone number once during the rental and return process, while SouDian frequently accessed location information during returns. XiaoDian’s privacy policy explicitly states that it collects users’ location information, browsing history, transaction habits, and phone numbers, but the app does not provide a way to disable targeted push notifications.
According to the “2023 China Shared Power Bank Industry Research Report” by iResearch, companies like Energy Monster, XiaoDian, Meituan, Jiedian, and SouDian dominated the market in 2022, collectively holding over 96 percent of the market share. Energy Monster had the highest usage frequency at 61.3 percent, followed by Meituan and Jiedian, each with approximately 50 percent market share.
Even reputable mainstream shared charging companies currently do not offer an “automatic account cancellation” feature.
Many experts have written articles urging users to exercise caution when using these products and to be wary of authorizing personal information. Headlines such as “Beware of the Shared Power Bank Traps Around You,” “Caution! Your Personal Privacy May Have Already Been Stolen by Shared Power Banks!” and “Shared Power Banks Not Only Want to Make Money but Also Target Users’ Personal Privacy!” all fall into this category. Some unscrupulous individuals have already established a gray industry chain for selling personal information.
In recent years, China has experienced numerous online banking and student loan scams. Scammers exploit the personal information they’ve acquired to deceive victims into transferring their bank deposits to fraudulent accounts—many times succeeding.
However, the intrusive behavior of shared power bank companies in forcibly collecting non-essential personal information has continued unchecked. Simultaneously, consumers are compelled to pay fees.
Charging Chaos in the Shared Power Bank Market
According to statistics from the Black Cat Big Data Center, there were over 50,000 complaints related to “shared power banks” on the Black Cat Complaint Platform in 2022. As of July 31, 2023, there have been over 28,000 complaints related to “shared power banks,” with an average of over a hundred related complaints every day. These complaints involve various brands such as Energy Monster, Jiedian, Laidian, and others. Common recurring issues include price increases without notice, excessively high fees, failure to refund deposits, unauthorized membership fee deductions, automatic post-return billing, difficulty in returning borrowed power banks, and an inability to contact customer service for refunds.Starting in July this year, mainstream shared power bank rental fees generally began at 4 yuan per hour. Some brands, like Energy Monster, set a half-hour charging starting point, with daily maximum prices ranging from 20 yuan to 50 yuan. Compared to the 1 yuan or 1.5 yuan per hour in 2021, prices have tripled or quadrupled.
An article from “Cover News” on Aug. 10 displayed a bill from a Chengdu resident, Ms. Zhang, who was charged 20.9 yuan for just 3 hours and 16 minutes of usage.
The difficulty in returning borrowed power banks has also been widely criticized. Mr. Lu, a resident of Nanjing, reported to the Modern Express newspaper in February that he borrowed a “XiaoDian” power bank, used it for half an hour, and returned it accurately. However, three days later, he was automatically charged 99 yuan for allegedly not returning the power bank.
Complaints of customers being charged 99 yuan even after returning the power bank on time are not new for XiaoDian Technology. As early as 2021, this company faced complaints because consumers were charged 99 yuan after returning the power bank. The volume of complaints reached the top spot on the Hangzhou mayor’s hotline from January to November, and similar complaints continued thereafter.
XiaoDian spokespersons responded by claiming that most issues occurred due to user mishandling during the return process, such as improper insertion of the power bank. The head of XiaoDian’s customer service department at the time suggested that it might be due to slot problems or poor chip connections. However, the issue remains unresolved.
Complaints on the Black Cat platform indicate that major players like Energy Monster, Jiedian, and SouDian have all faced numerous complaints about continuing to bill customers after they’ve returned the power bank. XiaoDian, however, has received the highest number of complaints.
A resident of Wuhan reported that he borrowed a shared power bank at a shopping mall and found that the original return station’s slots were already full when he tried to return it after dining. After visiting several stations, he discovered that either the slots were full or the system provided false return spots, leading to unnecessary running around and additional charges.
Meituan, Energy Monster, and XiaoDian Technology, the operating companies, all stated that the power banks do not have an automatic stop billing feature, and as long as the power bank is not returned, it will continue to incur charges.
A review by The Epoch Times revealed that the problem of forced excessive billing by power banks was already prominent in 2020. An interview report published by the Workers’ Daily on Dec. 18, 2020, titled “Easy to Borrow, Hard to Return, Privacy Leaks. ... Have You Encountered the ‘Pitfalls’ of Shared Power Banks?” includes multiple similar cases.
This year, a March 15 article on the specialized mainland Chinese power industry portal “OFweek” exposed the industry’s practices of setting traps to invisibly harvest users. One of these practices involved the pervasive use of inefficient products that deliberately prolong the time it takes for users to fully charge their phones. This strategy coerces users to spend an additional 8 or 10 yuan to achieve adequate charging. The article referenced test results from the Hangzhou Consumer Rights Protection Committee, revealing that shared power banks, including Laidian, Jiedian, SouDian, Energy Monster, and XiaoDian, could only provide a mere 20 percent phone charge in 30 minutes, with none of them exceeding a 50 percent charge after one hour.
Another concerning method of exploitation is the deliberate hindrance of users attempting to return rented products, creating significant difficulties in the process. This tactic involves promptly having operating agents replenish and occupy charging pile slots as soon as a user rents a shared power bank, effectively preventing temporary users from returning the devices. As a result, after accumulating excessive usage time, some users are inevitably compelled to spend 99 yuan to purchase an essentially worthless power bank product.
It is worth noting that a 5000mAh XiaoDian power bank can be readily found on Pinduoduo, an online shopping platform akin to Amazon, for as low as 25.5 yuan. By comparison, a 10,000mAh Xiaomi power bank is available for only 79 yuan. It is clear that selling XiaoDian power banks to consumers for 99 yuan represents a straightforward and highly profitable business practice.
Li Yanming, a political commentator based in the United States, told The Epoch Times that the Chinese Communist Party has long exhibited a troubling tolerance for high-tech companies forcibly collecting personal information, and disregarding online security.
