Azubalis told BNS Lithuania that the Yandex.Taxi service must be halted as “posing threat to national security” as its administrators might be sending consumer data to Russia.
“I believe in this case the task for the Lithuanian government, in cooperation with Vilnius authorities, to look for ways to eliminate this company and its activity in Lithuania,” the lawmaker said.
“Since it has to do with national security and the possibility of information collected by this company being used against Lithuania and specific targets, so I think any measure aimed at stopping foreign country’s intelligence activity is appropriate,” Ažubalis added.
Earlier in the day, Lithuania’s National Cyber Security Center (NCSC) said the Yandex.Taxi ride-sharing app sends data to addresses in Russia. Therefore, NCSC advises against using this app.
Yandex.Taxi launched business in Vilnius on Jul. 26.
The Netherlands-based Yandex.Taxi BV, which administers the app, has told BNS Lithuania that it “processes and stores data of EU users strictly according to EU regulations”.