Last year, Ted Cruz, a Republican senator, warned that many consumers did not know what kinds of personal data their kitchen gadgets could be harvesting.
“I don’t think the American people want their air fryer spying on them,” he said. “And at a minimum, they have a right to know if their air fryer is spying on them.”
In 2021, security researchers at Cisco found vulnerabilities in Cosori’s internet connected air fryers that would allow a hacker to take remote control of the cooker, although the flaw was later fixed.
Cosori’s models are ranked among Amazon’s best-selling air fryers.
A Xiaomi spokesman told Which? that while its smart home app sought permission to record audio, this was “not applicable to Xiaomi Smart Air Fryer, which does not operate directly through voice commands and video chat”.
The company said: “Our privacy policy is developed to comply with applicable regulations such as the UK GDPR and the DPA 2018. By complying with local applicable laws and regulations in markets where Xiaomi operates, user data are stored in compliance with local laws.”
A Cosori spokesman said: “We prioritise privacy and, subject to our internal compliance requirements, the smart products must comply with GDPR.”
Aigostar did not respond to a request for comment.