The Austrian privacy advocacy group Noyb has filed complaints against three Chinese tech companies: TikTok, AliExpress, and WeChat for violating EU data privacy laws.
Reasons for Noyb's Complaints to Regulators
Noyb lodged complaints with data protection authorities in Belgium, Greece, and the Netherlands, focusing on the companies' alleged refusal to grant users full access to their personal data as required by EU law. According to Noyb, this stance from companies creates ignorance among European users regarding how their data is processed and whether it complies with GDPR provisions.
Complaints Against TikTok, AliExpress, and WeChat
Noyb claims that TikTok and AliExpress refused to provide full access to user information, instead offering only partial and hard-to-understand data. In TikTok's case, the requested data was provided in an unstructured form that complicated comprehension, while AliExpress provided a broken file that could only be opened once. WeChat completely ignored user requests.
Continued Actions by Noyb Against Other Companies
Earlier this year, Noyb filed complaints against several other Chinese companies, including SHEIN and Temu, seeking to suspend data transfers to China and asking for potential fines of up to 4% of the offending firms' global revenue. According to EU law, data transfers are permitted only if the destination country does not undermine data protection; Chinese laws do not limit government access to personal data, thus companies cannot ensure EU users' data is protected.
Noyb's recent complaints against TikTok, AliExpress, and WeChat highlight a continuing effort to enforce data privacy laws in Europe, demanding greater transparency and accountability from companies in handling users' personal data.