After Lithuania, Now Germany Is Starting To Monitor Xiaomi's Built-in Sensors

JAKARTA – Germany's federal cybersecurity watchdog, BSI, is conducting technical checks on phones manufactured by China's Xiaomi Corp. This was confirmed by a spokesman for the German interior ministry to Reuters, Wednesday, September 29.

The spokesman did not provide further details on what type of checks the agency was carrying out.

The Lithuanian state cybersecurity agency said last week that Xiaomi phones have built-in capabilities to detect and censor terms such as "Free Tibet", "Long live Taiwan independence", or "democracy movement".

Xiaomi said Monday that it is engaging third-party experts to assess allegations by Lithuania that its smartphones carry built-in sensor capabilities. The company was not immediately available for comment on the German investigation.

Xiaomi emerged as the top smartphone vendor in Europe for the first time in the second quarter of 2021, shipping a record 12.7 million units there, research firm Strategy Analytics said.

Along with other Chinese competitors on the Android operating system, Xiaomi has enjoyed a surge in market share following the enforcement of US sanctions against Huawei Technologies Co Ltd, which crippled its once-dominant smartphone division.

Germany has security concerns about using technology from Chinese companies such as Huawei in rolling out 5G networks after the US called for a ban on the company, saying its equipment could be used to support Chinese state espionage.