It could be a huge mass scandal for the benefit of the Chinese authorities. In a study published Tuesday, November 5, the British consumer group “Which?” warns of the fact that Airfryers collect a multitude of personal data without their owners being aware. Working with a smartphone application, these devices allow it to obtain in particular the location of users but also their gender, their date of birth, even the audio of their phone if they allow it.
As reported The Guardianthe fryers singled out in the study come from Chinese brands Xiaomi et Aigostar while another comes from the American company Cosori. “The Xiaomi app linked to its air fryer was connected to trackers from Facebook, Pangle (the advertising network of TikTok for Business) and Chinese tech giant Tencent. […] Both the Aigostar and Xiaomi fryers have sent people’s personal data to servers in China“, asks “Which?” in his study.
In response, Xiaomi assures that “respect for user privacy has always been one of the fundamental values” of the company while Cosori assured to give priority to “confidentiality” and “compliance” of its products with European standards. “We do not sell any personal information to third parties”, insisted Xiaomi.
Xiaomi already suspected of espionage in the past
This is not the first time that devices from Chinese giant Xiaomi have been accused of surveillance. In 2023, researchers from the University of Edinburgh and Trinity College Dublin criticized its smartphones for collect and transfer an excessive amount of personal data. In 2022, Belgium considered that its cell phones, alongside those of Huawei, presented a “espionage risk”, particularly in the context of a sometimes tense geopolitical context between the European Union and China.
In his study, Wich recommends that consumers carefully check application permissions before downloading them and only sharing data essential to the operation of the devices. The association also advises gradually delete audio recordings from his phone.
Read more
