TikTok hit by fresh complaint over data access
VIENNA : Online privacy campaigners filed fresh complaints against social media giant TikTok and two other Chinese-owned companies today, saying they had failed to comply with data access requests.
Prominent Austria-based privacy campaign group None of Your Business (Noyb) already filed complaints against the three and another three Chinese-owned companies in January, accusing them of 'unlawfully' sending Europeans' personal data to China.
'While Shein, Temu and Xiaomi provided the complainants with additional information, TikTok, AliExpress and WeChat 'continued to violate' the EU's landmark General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR),' Noyb said.
Noyb said it filed the fresh complaints against TikTok with data protection authorities in Greece, against AliExpress in Belgium and against WeChat in the Netherlands to order them to fulfil the access requests and fine them.
'All three tech companies have failed to comply with access requests… This makes it impossible for European users to exercise their fundamental right to privacy, to find out how their personal data is being processed,' Noyb said.
'TikTok only provided part of the complainant's data 'in an unstructured form that was impossible to understand,' Noyb said.
TikTok did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
Last week, Beijing denied asking firms to 'illegally' collect and store users' personal information after an investigation was opened into its European operations.
TikTok was fined €530 million (US$610 million) in May by Ireland's Data Protection Commission (DPC) over sending personal data to China, although the Chinese social media giant had insisted this data was only accessed remotely.
Ireland's DPC is the lead regulator in the EU for TikTok as the company has its European headquarters in the country.
The social media giant has been in the crosshairs of Western governments for years over fears that personal data could be used by China for espionage or propaganda purposes.
Noyb has launched several legal cases against US technology giants such as Meta and Google, often prompting action from regulatory authorities over violations of the GDPR.
'Chinese apps are even worse than US providers,' Noyb said today.
Noyb began working in 2018 with the advent of the GDPR.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Free Malaysia Today
6 hours ago
- Free Malaysia Today
Poland's Tusk unveils new cabinet in bid to reverse decline
Donald Tusk's coalition has steadily declined in opinion polls since mid-2024. (AP pic) WARSAW : Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced a cabinet reshuffle today in a bid to regain momentum amid falling approval ratings and potential clashes with the new, opposition-backed nationalist president. Since Karol Nawrocki's victory over Tusk's liberal ally Rafal Trzaskowski in June's presidential election, dissension within the ruling pro-European coalition has grown, raising doubt about its future under a veto-wielding head of state. Under the reshuffle, foreign minister Radoslaw Sikorski was promoted to deputy prime minister while keeping his current post. 'We as a government need a very strong political figure in international relations,' Tusk told reporters. To consolidate oversight of economic affairs, Tusk announced a new super ministry combining finance and the economy to be headed by current finance minister Andrzej Domanski. 'The most important structural undertaking is building a viable financial and economic centre. There will be a single centre operating transparently and implementing a comprehensive economic policy,' Tusk said. Milosz Motyka from junior coalition party PSL will head a newly created energy ministry. A judge, Waldemar Zurek, was named to run the justice ministry as it seeks to shore up rule of law standards that critics say deteriorated under the previous nationalist government. Tusk's coalition has steadily declined in opinion polls since mid-2024. This month, the share of government opponents has risen to 48% while the government's support has held steady at 32%, the latest CBOS poll showed. Polls have traced the government's drop in popularity to public disenchantment with a lack of concrete achievements, with the opposition landing effective blows over a failure to stem undocumented migration into Poland. The reshuffle drew criticism from the main opposition Law and Justice party, which lost power in the 2023 election. 'Reconstruction means nothing other than the further destruction of Poland. Some incompetents were replaced by others,' the party's vice president, Mariusz Blaszczak, said in a post on X. Nawrocki, who will be sworn in as president on Aug 6, has questioned the coalition's pro-European, liberal agenda but said he is willing to accept moves to increase the tax-free pay threshold and deregulate parts of the economy. 'All laws that will be good for Poles will meet with my approval,' Nawrocki said in the televised interview on Monday. Tusk, in his remarks announcing the reshuffle, called on supporters not to despair after Nawrocki's presidential victory. 'No defeat, including the presidential election, justifies this mood or despair, this slackness, these thoughts of surrender… The time of post-election trauma definitely ends today,' the former European Council president said.
New Straits Times
9 hours ago
- New Straits Times
Police: E-commerce scams cost Malaysians RM63mil in six months
KUALA LUMPUR: E-commerce fraud continues to rise at an alarming rate, with over RM63 million in losses recorded in just the first six months of 2025. Bukit Aman Commercial Crime Investigation Department (CCID) director Datuk Rusdi Mohd Isa said a total of 5,252 cases were reported between January and June this year, involving multiple digital platforms including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, Telegram, TikTok and He said the most common modus operandi involved fake sellers offering non-existent items, which were never delivered despite payment made by victims. "Other tactics include fraudulent websites designed to appear legitimate, which are used to steal personal and financial information, as well as phishing attacks via email or messaging apps that impersonate e-commerce companies," he told reporters today.
Malay Mail
10 hours ago
- Malay Mail
Credit Suisse's €83.2m forex cartel fine cut by nearly two-thirds after EU court review
LUXEMBOURG, July 23 — An EU court today slashed an €83.2 million (RM412 million) fine Brussels imposed on Credit Suisse for engaging in a forex trading cartel, arguing it had been miscalculated. The Luxembourg-based General Court upheld the European Commission's finding that the bank engaged in anti-competitive practices — but reduced the related fine to €28.9 million. The court said that the data the commission used 'in determining the proxy for the value of Credit Suisse's sales' was less reliable than that provided by the Swiss lender during the proceedings against it. The commission, the European Union's antitrust regulator, therefore 'miscalculated the basic amount of the fine that it imposed,' the court concluded. The ruling can be appealed before the EU Court of Justice. Credit Suisse was among a group of banks that the commission slapped with fines totalling €344 million in 2021 after a long antitrust probe. This revealed that traders in charge of spot foreign exchange transactions on major currencies acting on behalf of the banks coordinated their trading strategies sometimes through an online chatroom called 'Sterling Lads'. The alleged cartel included Barclays, RBS and HSBC as well as UBS — but the latter avoided a fine as it came forward voluntarily to cooperate with authorities. It was UBS that appealed the commission's decision against Credit Suisse, having acquired its former rival after it collapsed in 2023. — AFP
