US EditionChina could be accessing browsing data on VPNs: Watchdog
- On June 12, 2025, the Tech Transparency Project released a report identifying 17 VPN applications available on Apple’s App Store and Google Play that maintain hidden affiliations with Chinese firms, including the US-sanctioned company Qihoo 360.
- This report follows an April 2024 investigation by the same group that found more than 20 top free VPNs on Apple's App Store showing evidence of Chinese ownership despite U.S. sanctions against Qihoo 360 since 2020.
- The report highlights that many VPN apps are owned by Chinese firms and could expose users’ online activities to the Chinese government due to national security laws requiring data sharing upon request.
- Katie Paul, director at TTP, highlighted that VPNs raise significant privacy issues since all online activity passes through the VPN service. Justin Sherman added that utilizing a VPN owned by a Chinese company is essentially equivalent to giving the Chinese government access to one’s browsing data.
- Despite Apple's policy enforcement claims and app removals of some Qihoo 360-linked apps, both Apple and Google continue allowing many such VPN apps in their U.S. app stores, implying ongoing privacy risks and profit from questionable apps.
19 Articles
19 Articles
Watchdog says these VPN apps could be giving your data to China
A consumer watchdog is accusing 17 virtual private network (VPN) apps, used to encrypt internet traffic and hide IP addresses, of having undisclosed connections to China. The claim, made in a report published on Thursday, June 12, by the Tech Transparency Project, points to four free apps on the Google Play Store, six on Apple’s App Store and seven more available on both. The companies behind the apps “are obliged to hand over their users’ brows…
Watchdog Raises Concerns Over VPNs With Hidden Ties to China - The Thinking Conservative
Apple and Google app stores are offering Americans VPNs, with undisclosed ties to Chinese companies, despite serious privacy and security concerns. The post Watchdog Raises Concerns Over VPNs With Hidden Ties to China appeared first on The Thinking Conservative.
Watchdog Raises Concerns Over VPNs With Hidden Ties to China
Apple and Google app stores are still offering Americans virtual private networks, or VPNs, with undisclosed ties to Chinese companies, despite “serious privacy and security concerns” that user data could be shared with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), a tech watchdog group said on June 12. VPNs encrypt data, allowing individuals to surf the web anonymously. An April report by the Technology Transparency Project (TTP) found that more than 20 o…
China could be accessing browsing data on VPNs: Watchdog
More than a dozen private browsing apps on Apple and Google’s app stores have undisclosed ties to Chinese companies, leaving user data at risk of exposure to the Chinese government, according to a new report from the Tech Transparency Project. Thirteen virtual private network (VPN) apps on Apple’s App Store and 11 apps on Google’s…
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