Lithuania tells citizens to throw out Chinese phones over censorship concerns

Defence ministry says certain Xiaomi phones have built-in ability to censor sensitive phrases

Lithuania's Defence Ministry has recommended that consumers avoid buying Chinese mobile phones and advised people to throw away the ones they have now, after a government report found the devices had built-in censorship capabilities.

Flagship phones sold in Europe by China's smartphone giant Xiaomi Corp have a built-in ability to detect and censor terms such as free Tibet", long live Taiwan independence" or democracy movement", Lithuania's state-run cybersecurity body said on Tuesday.