It's hard to run a country if you make public policy announcements that don't reflect what you want. Even if you tell your inner circle not to take the policy seriously, there'll be a lot of outsiders taking it at face value, especially in a country with more than a billion people. Based on what they heard coming from the central government, various municipalities are working on stricter laws (e.g. Shenzhen's new data regulations http://www.szrd.gov.cn/szrd_zlda/szrd_zlda_flfg/flfg_szfg/co... ) and economic publications are talking about the potentially astronomic fines and steps compliance departments are taking to manage that risk https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/bAbyNyg4FZSsbrY9he5BkA

Sure would be a bummer if the government didn't really mean it that way, but companies end up improving their data management practices anyway.