(Yicai Global) Feb.18 -- JD Finance has suspended the picture assistant feature of its app over its alleged collecting and uploading users' sensitive pictures, it said on its Twitter-like Weibo account on Feb. 16.

Beijing-based JD.Com's finance unit released its app in December. If a user takes a screenshot, the app will decide by default that the user wants to contact customer support and prompt the picture on the upper left corner of the interface, the company said on Feb. 16, adding that a user may opt to send the screenshot to customer support.

The cached picture is only used for prompts on the user's mobile phone, and as long as it is not sent to customer support, it will stay in the user's phone, totally invisible to the app's back-end system, JD Finance assured.

Users posted videos on Weibo on Feb. 16 showing how the app collects sensitive images and uploads them. One video shows a user opening a bank app, taking a screenshot, then opening the file manager and accessing the app's directory where the screenshot of the bank app emerges.

China's Cyberspace Administration and four other ministries have instituted a special initiative to rectify illegal collection and use of personal information.

They found last month that many apps collected excessive personal information.

Editor: Ben Armour