BYD cuts references to 'China' and 'surveillance' from its privacy policy

Electric vehicle maker BYD removed any reference to "China" and "surveillance" from its Australian privacy policy, just days after questions from Four Corners. 

The original policy gave the company almost unlimited powers to collect data on its Australian vehicle owners and broad discretion on how this could be disclosed.

It said the data could be gathered "in connection with suspected illegal or improper activities" and that this could be done through "surveillance activities".

"This gives some highly concerning indications about the potential data practises of the company," said UNSW's Katharine Kemp, an expert in privacy law and how it relates to connected vehicles.

The policy named China as one of 16 countries where the data of Australians could be sent.

BYD, which is challenging Toyota for the title of Australia's top car brand, has been selling vehicles here since 2022.

It is on track to sell about 100,000 cars in Australia this year, almost double its 2025 sales.

When Four Corners asked about its privacy policy, BYD replied two days later saying it had "undergone a review and been updated".

All references to China were gone, along with any mention of surveillance.

The new policy was uploaded to BYD's Australian website just an hour and sixteen minutes before the company sent it to Four Corners.

Confusingly, the website said its new policy no longer applied to vehicles and directed users to a separate document on its app.

Both policies say the data collected from Australian vehicles is stored in Australia.

While all references to China have been removed, there is nothing to stop it transferring data overseas, including to China.

"Should we need to transfer your personal data to other countries … we will comply with applicable data protection laws regarding cross-border data transfers," the new policy says.

The Australian Privacy Act allows for data to be transferred to China.

BYD said Chinese authorities had no access to the data of Australians.

"We haven't and would not transfer any data of Australians to the Chinese authorities," it said.

This is despite China's national security laws obligating companies to co-operate with authorities if requested.

BYD's new policy begins with the company saying it values and "respect our customer's privacy".

But privacy expert Katharine Kemp said this did not mean much.

"So many privacy policies that don't provide good privacy protections start with exactly those words, and I would never pay any attention to them," she said.

"It's privacy fluff. It's nothing."

Ms Kemp said she could not remember reading a connected car privacy policy that "consistently meets requirements of fairness and reasonableness".

"I think there are a lot of problems across many of the privacy policies and BYD certainly provides some examples of that among them," she said.

Watchdog's BYD inquiries

In April, Australia's privacy watchdog confirmed it was investigating Toyota and Hyundai over whether they were managing customer data from connected vehicles in accordance with the law.

BYD is also facing questions over its data-handling practices.

It told Four Corners it "has formally responded to preliminary inquiries" by the privacy watchdog.

Last month the government released draft legislation to update Australia's Privacy Act, acknowledging the risks posed by emerging technologies, including connected vehicles.

BYD said it would welcome new laws that take into account connected cars.

"At the moment the industry is applying elements of the Australian Privacy Act from 1988, together with other regulations that almost certainly did not foresee a scenario with connected vehicles almost 40 years on," the company said.

Ms Kemp said an overhaul of the Privacy Act was much needed.

"The majority of people do care about their privacy. And they very often say they don't feel like they have real choices in how their information is used," she said.

"We need some major updates to our privacy law in Australia to be able to provide privacy protections with these emerging technologies and bring us into line with other comparable countries."

Watch Four Corners' full investigation, Asleep at the Wheel, on ABC iview now.