TikTok, Shein and Xiaomi accused of illegally transferring EU citizens' data

TikTok, Shein and Xiaomi accused of illegally transferring EU citizens' data to China

Austrian rights group Noyb filed a series of complaints against TikTok, Shein, Xiaomi and three other Chinese companies, accusing them of illegally transferring personal data of users from the EU to China.

In its initiative, the organisation sent six complaints to EU countries, including Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Austria, demanding that data transfers be suspended and fines be imposed, which could amount to up to 4% of the companies' global revenue.

According to Noyb, TikTok, Shein, Xiaomi and the AliExpress platform openly acknowledged that European users' data is transferred to China, citing transparency reports and other documents.

Meanwhile, Temu and the WeChat messenger, owned by Tencent, are also accused of transferring data to "third countries", presumably China.

A Xiaomi representative stated that the company is analysing the accusations and is ready to cooperate with regulators if they reach out. The other companies have not yet commented on the situation.