TikTok, Xiaomi, and other Chinese tech firms hit by EU privacy complaints

TikTok, Xiaomi, Shein, and other Chinese tech companies are unlawfully sending European Union (EU) user data to China, a new privacy complaint filed on Thursday says.

The complaints were filed by the Austrian advocacy group Noyb, known for its successful litigation against American companies such as Apple, Alphabet, the parent firm of Google, and Meta.

Legal action against US firms has led to several investigations and billions of dollars in fines – although EU regulation is now under attack as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has called on the incoming Donald Trump administration to defend US companies from European “censorship.”

Now, at least, the Noyb complaints don’t revolve around the US, in what is the organization’s first General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) action against Chinese firms. It has filed six complaints in four EU countries for the suspension of data transfers to China and is seeking fines that can reach up to 4% of a firm’s global revenue.

According to Noyb, Alibaba's e-commerce site AliExpress, retailer Shein, TikTok, and phone maker Xiaomi admit to sending Europeans’ personal data to China, while retailer Temu and Tencent's messenger app WeChat transfer data to undisclosed “third countries” – most likely China.

Under the EU’s GDPR privacy regime, data transfers outside the EU are only allowed if the destination country doesn't undermine the protection of data.

“Given that China is an authoritarian surveillance state, it is crystal clear that China doesn't offer the same level of data protection as the EU,” said Kleanthi Sardeli, a data protection lawyer at Noyb.

“Transferring Europeans’ personal data is clearly unlawful – and must be terminated immediately.”

Noyb says it’s vital to find out what Chinese tech companies do with European’s personal data. But at least in theory, these firms have no choice but to comply with government requests for access to data because that’s what the Chinese laws say.

Chinese companies, notably ByteDance-owned TikTok, have been facing off with regulators in various countries. TikTok is planning to shut its app for US users starting Sunday when a federal ban is due to come into effect – although Trump said on Wednesday he might decide to suspend the ban.

The European Commission is also investigating TikTok over its suspected failure to limit election interference, notably in the Romanian presidential vote in November.