New complaints were filed on July 17 in European countries against three Chinese applications, including Tiktok, accused of not having responded to requests on the processing of its users.
“Technology companies love to collect as many data as possible about you, but they categorically refuse to provide full access, as required by European legislation,” Kleanthi Sardeli, a lawyer for the Noyb association, a Viennese NGO in the origin of the procedure, said.
She had already initiated actions in January against six Chinese applications on behalf of people concerned with the illegal transfer of their data to Beijing.
RGPD violation
If online trade giants Shein and Temu, as well as the application of consumer electronics, Xiaomi, have accessed the applications of the plaintiffs, “Tiktok, Aliexpress and Wechat continued to violate the GDPR (European data protection regulation)”, providing incomplete responses or ignoring the application, according to Noyb.
Therefore, the organization has filed three complaints to the data protection authorities in Belgium, Greece and the Netherlands for the companies to meet. It also requires an administrative fine against them, which can reach up to 4% of their global income, “to avoid similar violations in the future.”
Requested by AFP, Tiktok had not reacted immediately.
Data concerns
The property of the Chinese group Bytedance, the powerful video exchange platform, with 1.5 billion members, has been in the viewfinder for Western governments for years, who fear their link with Beijing and a possible use of their user data for espionage or propaganda purposes.
The Irish Data Protection Authority (DPC), which acted on behalf of the European Union, opened an investigation against Tiktok on the storage of certain personal data on Chinese servers, Beijing denied any participation.
The DPC had already sanctioned the social network, of which the European headquarters is in Ireland, of a fine of 530 million in early May for not having guaranteed sufficient protection for Internet users.
European data can only be transferred, that is, stored or accessible in a third country only if the EU, such as Japan, the United Kingdom or the United States.
Noyb, whose acronym means “none of his business” (“It is not their belongings”), it is the origin of many complaints against web giants, which has resulted in fines of billions of euros.
Source: BFM TV
