Rajeev Chandrasekhar says govt will investigate Realme user data capturing feature

Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said the ministry will look into a data collection feature on Realme phones that is turned on by default.

The Realme 10 Pro Plus is pictured here. (Image credit: Anurag Chawake/Express Photo)

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After a Twitter user pointed out that Realme phones come with an “Enhanced Intelligent Services” feature that collected device information, app usage statistics and other user info, Minister of State for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the government will “have it tested and checked.”

Chandrasekhar made the statement when he retweeted the original tweet, which shared the screenshot and accusations against the Chinese smartphone brand Realme. The original tweet and accusations were shared by user Rishi Bagree, who is known for sharing polarising content on social media.

Will hv this tested and checked @rishibagree

copy: @GoI_MeitY https://t.co/4hkA5YWsIg

— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) June 16, 2023

In the original tweet, Bagree said the option for “Enhanced Intelligent Services” is on by default and insinuated that this feature is used to send Indian users’ data—including call logs, SMS and location info—to China. Realme’s parent company is BBK Electronics, the same Guangzhou-based company that is the parent of Vivo, Oppo, OnePlus and iQoo; all major Chinese phone brands sold in India.

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The “Enhanced Intelligence Services” feature cited by Bagree and amplified by the minister is vaguely-worded and seems like an intrusive feature. Indianexpress.com confirmed that the feature is turned on by default on the Realme 11 Pro.

The feature is turned on by default on Realme 11 Pro Plus.

According to information in the phone’s settings, the Enhanced Intelligent Services feature is essential for many of the phones’ features. The phone’s charging optimisation feature needs to collect location information and app usage statistics, the wallpapers and other personalisation features need to collect statistics about unread messages, missed calls and other crucial information, according to the feature’s information page in the phone’s UI.

The same feature also seemed to be turned on by default in the OnePlus Nord CE 3 Lite. OnePlus is also a sub-brand of BBK Electronics.

The OnePlus Nord CE 3 also has the same feature, also turned on by default.

But this feature is not exclusive to Chinese smartphone brands. A look at the privacy settings on a Samsung Galaxy S20FE reveals that even the South Korean company has the tendency to enable a similar “Send diagnostic data” option by default. In Samsung’s case, the phone also takes the liberty to link this diagnostic data with other information from your Samsung phone.

Samsung phones also seem to have a similar feature. This is from the Samsung Galaxy S20 FE.

It is not immediately clear what exactly any of these companies plan to do with the data they collect from users’ phones and if these functions are essential to the products and services offered by them, the onus is on them to explain to users why that is so.

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Indianexpress.com sent a request for comment to Realme representatives but he haven’t yet received a reply. This story will be revised and updated when a reply is received.

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