Moldovan parliament speaker announces solutions to protect personal data, control payments after journalistic investigation into taxi platform

Moldovan authorities are examining two courses of action amid concerns about the collection and storage of personal data belonging to users of the Yandex Go taxi platform. Parliament Speaker Igor Grosu said that one solution involved making it mandatory for financial transfers to be processed through the banking system, while the other concerns checks carried out by the Council for Examining Investments of Importance to State Security.

“There are two levels. On the one hand, we are pursuing a solution that would require companies using the system to register for transfers and so on through the banking system. The banking system, not alternative payment systems,” Igor Grosu said in response to journalists’ questions.

The speaker noted that the second level involved the activity of the strategic investment commission, which requested information from companies and institutions, including to verify how personal data is protected. Igor Grosu thanked the press for the journalistic investigation, emphasizing the importance of disclosures that bring issues related to personal data protection and the need for action by the authorities to public attention.

The statements came after an investigation published by Europa Liberă (Free Europe) on October 13, which reported that the Yandex group had generated more than seven million euros in Moldova in a single year, while its affiliated local company reportedly declared zero income. The investigation brought renewed attention to questions about where users’ data is stored and who may have access to it.

On October 15, the Council for Examining Investments of Importance to State Security launched an in-depth assessment of Yandex Go’s activities in Moldova, requesting documents from the company concerning its investment activity, ownership structure and ultimate beneficiaries. The National Center for Personal Data Protection was also asked to provide a detailed report on the collection, processing, storage and transmission of users’ data.

Yandex Go representatives told NewsMaker that data of users from Moldova was stored on the servers of a provider in the European Union and that the platform complied with the national data protection legislation.

Meanwhile, on June 4, 2026, the parliament passed, in the first reading, a draft amending the Road Transport Code. The bill provides for the tax registration of taxi platforms in Moldova and the processing of payments through financial institutions licensed in the country.