Lithuania says throw away Chinese phones due to censorship concerns
- Flagship Xiaomi phones sold in Europe can detect and censor terms such as ‘Free Tibet’ and ‘Long live Taiwan independence’, says the state cybersecurity body
- The capability in the Mi 10T 5G phone software had been turned off for the region but can be remotely activated, the report adds
Lithuania’s defence ministry recommended that consumers avoid buying Chinese mobile phones and advised people to throw away the ones they have now after a government report found the devices had built-in censorship capabilities.
Flagship phones sold in Europe by China’s smartphone giant Xiaomi Corp have a built-in ability to detect and censor terms such as “Free Tibet”, “Long live Taiwan independence” or “democracy movement”, Lithuania’s state-run cybersecurity body said on Tuesday.
“Our recommendation is to not buy new Chinese phones, and to get rid of those already purchased as fast as reasonably possible,” Defence Deputy Minister Margiris Abukevicius told reporters in introducing the report.
Xiaomi did not respond to a Reuters query for comment.
Relations between Lithuania and China have soured recently. China demanded last month that Lithuania withdraw its ambassador in Beijing and said it would recall its envoy to Vilnius after Taiwan announced that its mission in Lithuania would be called the Taiwanese Representative Office.
Taiwanese missions in Europe and the United States use the name of the city Taipei, avoiding a reference to the island itself, which China claims as its own territory.
