X owner Musk has repeatedly clashed with EU regulators, while some European politicians have accused him of meddling in elections, such as with his streamed conversation with the leader of Germany's far-right Alternative for Germany. Musk has said the criticism is an affront to democracy and free speech.

The European Commission said on Friday it was stepping up its investigation into whether Elon Musk's social media network X breached EU rules on content moderation with requests for information and an order for it to retain relevant documents.

The European Commission stated on Friday that it will add extra stages to a probe that began in December 2023. That investigation became politically charged as Musk, who will play a crucial role in the new Trump administration,

TikTok, Shein, Xiaomi and three other Chinese companies were named in a privacy complaint filed on Thursday by Austrian advocacy group Noyb which claimed the firms were unlawfully sending European Union user data to China.

Austrian privacy advocate NOYB has launched its first GDPR complaints against Chinese businesses. The organization has filed complaints against TikTok, Xiaomi, Shein, AliExpress, Temu and WeChat, alleging that these companies unlawfully shared information about European users with parties in China.

Austrian advocacy group Noyb has filed privacy complaints against TikTok and five other Chinese companies in the EU. Noyb claims that these tech firms are unlawfully transferring the data of users in the European Union to China.