(Yicai Global) Jan. 10 -- China's main internet regulator has instructed two units of Alibaba Group Ltd. to review their data collection practices following recent controversy over a new service agreement on its online payment platform Alipay.

China's Cyberspace Administration found that a recent Alipay service agreement allowing Alipay Network Technology Co. and Zhima Credit Management Co. to share user information with third parties by default did not conform with data protection rules, the regulator said in a press briefing yesterday.

The watchdog instructed the two subsidiaries to inspect and rectify its data collection processes and ensure that a similar situation does not arise in the future.

The company included a one-line agreement when users tried to access their annual payment report for 2017, which was checked by default, thereby increasing the likelihood they would unknowingly assign certain data usage rights to Alipay and Zhima Credit.

The issue came to light when after a lawyer published an article criticizing the practice on microblogging site Weibo, which went viral.