TikTok, Shein, Xiaomi and three other Chinese companies were named in a privacy complaint filed on Thursday by Austrian advocacy group Noyb which claimed the firms were unlawfully sending European Union user data to China. Noyb is known for filing complaints against American companies such as Apple, Alphabet and Meta, which has led to several investigations and billions of dollars in fines. Vienna-based Noyb (None Of Your Business) said, this is their first complaint against Chinese firms. Noyb has filed six complaints in Greece, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy and Austria for suspension of data transfers to China and is seeking fines that can reach up to 4% of a firm’s global revenue. Noyb said Alibaba’s e-commerce site AliExpress, retailer Shein, TikTok and phone maker Xiaomi admit to sending Europeans’ personal data to China, citing transparency reports and other documents, while retailer Temu and Tencent’s messenger app WeChat transfer data to undisclosed “third countries” likely China. A Xiaomi spokesperson said the company was examining the allegations and will fully cooperate with authorities to resolve the matter if they approach the company due to this complaint. Other companies did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Under European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy regime, data transfers outside the EU are only allowed if the destination country doesn’t undermine the protection of data.

Full report : Pro privacy advocacy group, NOYB files complaints against AliExpress, Shein, TikTok, Xiaomi, Temu, and WeChat over claims they are unlawfully sending EU user data to China.