Online privacy watchdogs have intensified scrutiny on major Chinese-owned tech companies as fresh complaints were filed on Thursday against TikTok, AliExpress, and WeChat for allegedly failing to adhere to European data access regulations.
The Austria-based advocacy group, None of Your Business (Noyb), raised these new complaints after stating that the companies had not complied with users’ requests for access to their personal data, as mandated under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
The move follows an earlier round of complaints in January against six Chinese-owned companies, accusing them of “unlawfully” transferring Europeans’ personal data to China.
While Shein, Temu, and Xiaomi responded by supplying additional details to the complainants, Noyb reported that TikTok, AliExpress, and WeChat continued to violate data access rules. The advocacy group noted that it had lodged new complaints with data protection authorities in Greece (for TikTok), Belgium (for AliExpress), and the Netherlands (for WeChat), urging regulators to enforce compliance and impose financial penalties.
According to Noyb, none of the three companies fulfilled user data access requests, effectively obstructing European users from understanding how their personal information is handled. “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 asserted.
The group also criticized TikTok for providing only a portion of the complainant’s data in an “unstructured form that was impossible to understand.” As of the time of reporting, TikTok had not responded to media inquiries regarding the new complaints.
These developments come just a week after Beijing denied instructing Chinese firms to “illegally” collect or store user data, amid a broader European investigation into such practices. TikTok has previously insisted that user data was only accessed remotely and not stored unlawfully.
In May, Ireland’s Data Protection Commission fined TikTok €530 million (\$610 million) for transferring personal data to China. Ireland serves as the lead EU regulator for TikTok, as the company’s European headquarters are located there.
The company has long faced suspicion from Western governments, who are concerned that user data might be exploited by Chinese authorities for surveillance or propaganda.
Noyb, established in 2018 following the implementation of the GDPR, has pursued legal actions against several tech giants, including Meta and Google, often sparking regulatory responses. The group did not mince words in its recent statement, adding, “Chinese apps are even worse than US providers.”
What you should know
Noyb, a leading European privacy advocacy group, is pushing for tougher enforcement of GDPR regulations against Chinese-owned apps like TikTok, AliExpress, and WeChat. The complaints stress the importance of user data transparency and come amid wider fears of data misuse tied to China’s global tech influence.
