cross-posted from: https://lemmy.sdf.org/post/31957116
Millions of Americans have downloaded apps that secretly route their internet traffic through Chinese companies, according to an investigation by the Tech Transparency Project (TTP), including several that were recently owned by a sanctioned firm with links to China’s military.
TTP’s investigation found that one in five of the top 100 free virtual private networks in the U.S. App Store during 2024 were surreptitiously owned by Chinese companies, which are obliged to hand over their users’ browsing data to the Chinese government under the country’s national security laws. Several of the apps traced back to Qihoo 360, a firm declared by the Defense Department to be a “Chinese Military Company." Qihoo did not respond to questions about its app-related holdings.
[...]
VPNs allow users to mask the IP address that can identify them, and, in theory, keep their internet browsing private. For that reason, they have been used by people around the world to sidestep government censorship or surveillance, or because they believe it will improve their online security. In the U.S., kids often download free VPNs to play games or access social media during school hours.
However, VPNs can themselves pose serious risks because the companies that provide them can read all the internet traffic routed through them. That risk is compounded in the case of Chinese apps, given China’s strict laws that can force companies in that country to secretly share access to their users’ data with the government.
[...]
The VPN apps identified by TTP have been downloaded more than 70 million times from U.S. app stores, according to data from AppMagic, a mobile apps market intelligence firm.
[...]
The findings raise questions about Apple’s carefully cultivated reputation for protecting user privacy. The company has repeatedly sought to fend off antitrust legislation designed to loosen its control of the App Store by arguing such efforts could compromise user privacy and security. But TTP’s investigation suggests that Apple is not taking adequate steps to determine who owns the apps it offers its users and what they do with the data they collect. More than a dozen of the Chinese VPNs were also available in Apple’s App Store in France in late February, showing that the issue extends to other Western markets.
[...]