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Smartphone maker Xiaomi engages expert to assess Lithuania claims its handsets contain censorship feature
- Xiaomi says it uses advertising software to shield users from certain content such as pornography and references that offend local users
- Lithuania cyber agency alleges that the flagship smartphones sold in Europe by Xiaomi have a built-in ability to detect and censor terms such as ‘Free Tibet’
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Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi Corp said it is engaging a third-party expert to assess claims from Lithuania’s government that its smartphones carry a censoring feature.
“While we dispute the characterisation of certain findings, we are engaging an independent third-party expert to assess the points raised in the report,” a Xiaomi spokesman said in a statement on Monday.
The announcement comes after Lithuania’s defence ministry urged consumers to throw away Chinese phones last week, following a report published by Lithuania’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) alleging that Xiaomi smartphones have built-in censorship capabilities.
Xiaomi said at the time that its devices “do not censor communications to or from its users”.
Xiaomi did not specify which third-party organisation it was engaging to conduct the assessment. A spokesman told Reuters it was an organisation based in Europe.
In response to the allegations of censorship, Xiaomi said it uses advertising software to shield users from certain content such as pornography and references that offend local users, a practice it described as standard in the industry.
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