Data privacy at risk: TikTok, Temu and Xiaomi's illegal data transfer to China scrutinized by digital rights organization ^↺

Companies are only allowed to send data from European customers to other countries under very specific conditions. For instance, transfer transfers are only permissible if the country in question does not undermine the data privacy standards of the European Union. Therefore, sending customer data to authoritarian surveillance states like China is probably illegal.

Nevertheless, there are numerous (tech) companies that transfer customer data to China, especially Chinese companies that operate globally. Xiaomi's transparency report acknowledges that the authorities in China sometimes request and receive unrestricted access to personal data from the popular smartphone maker. Therefore, the data of Xiaomi users is unlikely to be secure. Ultimately, Chinese companies like Temu are forced to comply with these official requests from the Chinese government, as there is no independent data privacy or protection authority in the country.

This is why the data protection organization called NOYB, which stands for "none of your business", has requested data access in order to find out whether the companies in question have indeed sent customer data to China or other countries outside the European Union. Despite their legal obligation, none of the companies have provided the requested information.

Consequently, NOYB has now officially filed data privacy complaint against TikTok, Aliexpress, Shein, Temu, WeChat and Xiaomi in five different EU countries. NOYB calls for an end of these illegal data transfers and recommended EU authorities impose a substantial fine, which could be as high as 4% of the global revenue of these gigantic companies.

For example, AliExpress has an annual revenue of €3.68 billion, which could result in a fine of up to €147 million. On the other hand, Temu has an annual revenue of €33.84 billion, so a massive fine of up to €1.35 billion could be imposed under the EU's strict data protection law.