One of China's major online payment service applications, Alipay, defended itself on Tuesday against accusations of personal information theft, saying that it has never invaded users' privacy or leaked their personal information.
The company fell under public scrutiny late on Monday when a Net user named "typcn" wrote on Twitter that the Alipay application on Android phones starts the phones' cameras and microphones every few minutes to take pictures and record sounds that the application later uploads to a server.
The Net user also claimed that users' contacts, call records and other information stored in the phone would be leaked by Alipay.
The post immediately triggered heated discussion on social media, as more Net users reported that they have experienced similar problems with the application.
In response, Alipay - the payment arm of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd - said Tuesday on its official Sina Weibo account that Alipay only records personal information after getting authorization from users. The post also said Alipay would never collect information in private or leak users' personal information.
It went on to explain that the application is authorized to use a phone's camera when users need to scan a QR code to pay a bill and may only make a recording when the user needs to send a voice message.
Even with user authorization, Alipay will not start the camera to take pictures or make recordings secretly, the company asserted.
