Chinese phones

Lithuania's defence ministry has advised people to throw away their Chinese smartphones after a new report found that a mobile made by a major brand had built-in censorship capabilities.

Lithuania's National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) said on Tuesday that the Mi 10T 5G phone made by Chinese manufacturer Xiaomi was able to detect and censor phrases such as "Free Tibet," "Long live Taiwan independence" and "democracy movement".

Apps pre-installed on the phone, such as the Mi internet browser, periodically receive lists of banned words compiled by Xiaomi, the NCSC report said.

Although the functionality is disabled on phones sold in Europe, it has the potential to be activated without the user's knowledge, the NCSC said.