A spokesperson for the German interior ministry revealed to Reuters on Wednesday that Germany’s federal cybersecurity authority, the BSI, is undertaking a technical examination of a mobile phone manufactured by China’s Xiaomi Corp.
The spokesperson did not elaborate on the type of investigation the agency was conducting.
Xiaomi phones have a built-in ability to detect and block terms like “Free Tibet”, “Long live Taiwan independence” or “democracy movement”, according to Lithanua’s state cybersecurity body.
Xiaomi announced on Monday that it was engaging a third-party expert to investigate Lithuania’s claims that its smartphones had built-in filtering capabilities.
Germany has expressed security concerns about using Huawei technology in its 5G network rollout, after US calls for the company to be banned, saying that its equipment may be used to enable Chinese state eavesdropping.