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 Play Store have ties to Chinese companies, the tech watchdog group said in the report released Thursday.
Chinese law requires Chinese companies to share data with the government upon request, creating privacy and security risks for American users.
Several of the apps, including two on both app stores and two others on Google Play Store, have ties to Chinese cybersecurity firm Qihoo 360, which has been sanctioned by the U.S. government, according to the report.
The Tech Transparency Project previously identified more than 20 VPN apps on Apple's App Store with Chinese ties in an April report. The iPhone maker has since removed three apps linked to Qihoo 360.
'After being informed of this issue once already, Apple and Google continue to make many of these VPN apps available to Americans without warning them of the security risks,' said Michelle Kuppersmith, executive director at Campaign for Accountability, the group behind the Tech Transparency Project.
'It's now fair to question whether the large profits Apple and Google make from their app stores have anything to do with this inaction,' Kuppersmith added in a statement.
Apple underscored that it does not limit app ownership by country and allows apps on its App Store so long as they comply with its guidelines and local laws. The iPhone maker also noted that it has guidelines for developers of VPN apps that prohibit them from disclosing data to third parties and requires them to clearly state what user data will be collected and how it will be used.
The Hill has reached out to Google for comment.
Concerns surrounding the Chinese government's ability to access American user data is at the center of the push to ban TikTok or force the app to divest from its China-based parent company ByteDance.
The popular video-sharing platform still remains available in the U.S., despite a law requiring TikTok to divest or face a U.S. ban, as President Trump has repeatedly deferred enforcement as he seeks to strike a deal with China.
The next TikTok deadline is fast approaching on June 19. However, the Trump administration is reportedly considering another extension, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Updated at 1:18 p.m. EDT
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Business Insider
36 minutes ago
- Business Insider
The scariest thing about AI might be the way your boss is talking about it
CEOs sending scary AI memos to employees may be doing more harm than good. In recent months, some company leaders have gone public with strikingly bleak outlooks, predicting generative AI tools like OpenAI's ChatGPT and Google's Gemini will displace wide swaths of white-collar workers and shrink job opportunities for recent college graduates. "It does not matter if you are a programmer, designer, project manager, data scientist, lawyer, customer support rep, salesperson, or a finance person — AI is coming for you," wrote the CEO and founder of the freelance-job site Fiverr in an email to employees that he shared on LinkedIn. Other company chiefs, including the bosses of chatbot maker Anthropic and payments provider Klarna, have voiced similarly grim employment forecasts tied to the AI surge. "This is unusual," Johnny Taylor, president of the Society for Human Resource Management, told Business Insider, noting that chief executives aren't typically so forthcoming or pessimistic. "But AI is unusual. There is going to be a fundamental shift in how work will be done." AI adoption kicks up Last year, 78% of workers said their organizations had used AI in at least one function, up from 55% in 2023, according to an AI-focused survey, released in March, by the global management consulting firm McKinsey. Companies' rapid adoption of AI is putting CEO communication to the test. While transparency is key to building trust with employees, leadership experts say telegraphing expectations of doom and gloom, no matter how sincere, can sink morale and hamper productivity. As an employee "you're using so much cognitive and emotional resources to deal with that threat," said Cary Cherniss, a professor at Rutgers University who studies emotional intelligence in the workplace. Increased turnover is another likely outcome. "If everybody is nervous about their jobs, they're going to start looking for other jobs," he said. AI's arrival in the workplace coincides with a sharp decline in employee confidence. Last month, the share of workers reporting a positive six-month business outlook fell to 44.1% from 48.2% a year earlier, setting a new record low last recorded in February, according to the careers platform Glassdoor. In times of great uncertainty and agitation, voices of fear and panic about AI can add to the unrest and increase anxiety, said Heidi Brooks, a senior lecturer in organizational behavior at Yale University's School of Management. "People's nervous systems are already so defensive and jacked up," she said. Striking a balance Still, company bosses shouldn't stay entirely mum if they truly anticipate major AI-driven disruption, according to Chris Yeh, a general partner at Blitzscaling Ventures and who co-authored two books about startup leadership with LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman. "Some jobs will likely be endangered," he said. The best approach, leadership experts said, is for CEOs to strike a balance by being honest about what changes they foresee while helping employees respond constructively. "The thing that leaders need to really understand is that you need to responsibly bring AI into the workforce," said Sarah Franklin, CEO of Lattice, a people-management platform. Balanced communication alone, though, may not be enough. Company leaders may also need to equip employees with training, resources and moral support, said SHRM's Taylor. "We're seeing more and more companies doing that," he said. Prediction follies Gary Rich, founder of executive-leadership firm Rich Leadership, suggests company chiefs talk about AI to employees like how they talk to Wall Street analysts. "You don't make stuff up and you don't speculate," he said. Making an accurate prediction about a seemingly transformative technology isn't easy anyway and can cause reputational harm, added Rich. History is littered with faulty forecasts, such as how people once thought television would replace radio and that e-commerce would kill bricks-and-mortar retail. "Ultimately, it erodes their own credibility when they're wrong," he said. AI's actual impact on employment has so far been mixed. Last year 13% of CEOs polled by professional-services firm PricewaterhouseCoopers said they reduced their headcounts due to generative AI over the previous 12 months, while 17% attributed the technology to increases in their workforces during that period. Melissa Valentine, a senior fellow at Stanford University who studies enterprise usage of AI, said workers should consider getting up to speed on how the technology applies to their field given how prominent and widespread it's become. But there's no need to panic as AI isn't going to change how most companies operate overnight. "It takes a ton of work to automate agents," she said.
Buzz Feed
41 minutes ago
- Buzz Feed
Trump Voters Are Sharing Their True Thoughts On Tariffs
I was pretty shocked the other day to read about actual price differences caused by tariffs, and I wanted to learn specifically about how Trump voters feel about the tariffs — whether they think they're a good idea or not. So, I decided to ask Trump voters to tell me what they really think about the tariffs; and, for good measure, I turned to the answers to a post on the subreddit Ask Trump Supporters that asked, "Do Trump supporters see the new tariff policy as a smart negotiating tactic with allies, or is there concern it could backfire?" Here are some people's answers: "I love the idea of Trump pushing the tariffs. It will teach the consumer what is really important to be spending their money on and learn how to be conservative. Plus bring back the businesses to the grand ol' USA." —Anonymous, 72 years old, Kansas City, Missouri "Not me, but my grandad. He has said that he regrets voting for Trump, even though he hates Harris. One, the tariffs are going to make his small business (golf balls) suffer, and he's worried about my business (cosmetics) suffering, too." "Two, he thinks Trump has dementia, because of the way Trump has been talking and stuff. He also thinks Trump is really violent. Also, my grandad was absolutely horrified when Elon did the Nazi salute thing (why did everyone just forget about this?) because, even though my grandad is Catholic, he has multiple Jewish friends, and was actually the one who kickstarted my interest in the history of the Holocaust. When Trump made that 'joke' about wanting to be the new Pope, that was the breaking point for him."—Anonymous "Good decision, time will prove it was a good one." "Tariffs are not going to help small businesses or consumers. A tariff is a tax that is passed on to the consumer. The government will collect this tax. What they will do with it is anyone's guess." "Trump lied to his voters. Tariffs increase prices of goods and services. Once prices go up they will never come down. Many small businesses will close as they will not be able to pay the insurmountable prices added to products which were already too high. Many people will lose their jobs, and things will just get worse. Meanwhile, Trump is making all types of deals in the Middle East for his business. God bless America."—Anonymous "My boyfriend voted for him in 2016, 2020, and 2024, and he still argues that China (or whoever) pays the tariffs." "Absolutely genius. Europe is already buckling. They want reciprocal free trade, but are not yet willing to remove VAT on imports and all the other shenanigans they pull to restrict trade. Trump is not falling for it." "Well, I'm skeptical and on the fence. There are countries that totally deserve, like, a 300% tariff, like China. And I've always been very, VERY suspicious of a global economic system that seems to favor a country like China just too much. Let's see what happens." "I hope it's just a negotiating tactic in order to get other countries to lower their tariffs against us, something everyone should support. But I think Trump might actually just love tariffs and hate deficits." "It's a risky gambit, I won't deny that. But what we were doing was unsustainable and going to bankrupt us in time, most likely much sooner than we'd like, and I don't hear Democrats offering any better alternatives, just screaming, 'Trump Bad!'" "This isn't about making life easier for investors. Sure, once a new business is established, it'll be more competitive with experience, and perhaps not need tariffs to be competitive in four years." "I think it's more than a negotiating tactic, though he is obviously using them to that effect at times. But I think Trump is not a free trader at his core, and do not think his goal is just to get other countries to lower their trade barriers to zero (they won't do that anyway)." "I don't have confidence that the tariff policy laid out last week will be successful. They were also calculated incorrectly, and Trump likely exceeded the legal authority he is using to levy the tariffs." "Somehow, back in the 1950s-1980s, people managed to buy lots of American goods without even owning credit cards, generally. I wonder if local manufacturing jobs helped. The 1970s oil crisis created inflation twice as high as it's ever been in your life (unless you're over 50). And nobody even knows. By the Reagan '80s boom, it was forgotten. All it did was spur the invention of fuel-efficient cars." "More competition for workers in USA means wages go up." "We don't have enough thinking-type jobs to sustain young US workers. I don't know if the country will make more money, but the goal is better jobs than young workers currently can access." "It's a risk. But Trump is not the habit of letting things age — he wants to make deals. Some countries he might want to keep tariffs on, if it's judged to be good for the US. Otherwise, tariffs should be lower a year from now." And finally: "I honestly don't know; at this point, I'm waiting to see what happens." What do you think? I'm interested in hearing all your opinions down in the comments below. Or, if you have something to say but prefer to stay anonymous, you're more than welcome to write in to the anonymous form below.
Atlantic
an hour ago
- Atlantic
No More Student Visas? No Problem.
Just how mad is Beijing about President Donald Trump's decision to revoke student visas for Chinese nationals? Not as mad as it says, and not as mad as one might expect. Publicly, China's leadership will likely complain that Trump's action is yet another attempt to thwart the country's rise. But in reality, Beijing would probably just as soon keep its smartest kids at home. Late last month, the U.S. State Department announced that it would 'aggressively revoke visas for Chinese students, including those with connections to the Chinese Communist Party or studying in critical fields,' and that it would 'enhance scrutiny' of the applications it received in the future. The new visa policy, a spokesperson said, is meant to prevent China from exploiting American universities and stealing intellectual property. A spokesperson for the foreign ministry quickly registered Beijing's objection to the new policy. But when Chinese leader Xi Jinping spoke with Trump by phone last week, either he didn't raise the new visa policy or his foreign ministry didn't regard his comments on the matter worth including in its official summary of the call, which suggests that the issue is not a top priority in Beijing's negotiations with Washington. One reason for this underwhelming response may be that re-shoring its university students serves Beijing's current agenda. China first opened to the world in the 1980s; in the decades that followed, securing a Western education for its elite helped the country bring in the technology and skills it needed to escape poverty. China was 'sending people out, learning from other places, finding the best quality wherever it was, and bringing that quality back to China,' Robin Lewis, a consultant for U.S.-China education programs and a former associate dean at Columbia University, told me. Now that period has given way to one of nationalism and self-reliance, which means promoting China's own companies, products, technologies—and universities. Rose Horowitch: Trump's campaign to scare off foreign students Xi has consistently stressed the importance of education in sustaining China's rise. His government has invested heavily in China's schools and lavished resources on science and technology programs, with some success. Some of China's top institutions, such as Tsinghua University in Beijing, have gained international recognition as serious competitors in scientific research. China would like to have its own Harvards, rather than sending its elite students to the United States, for political and cultural reasons as well as economic ones. Chinese authorities have long worried that the hundreds of thousands of students it exports to America will absorb undesirable ideas about democracy and civil liberties—and that they will access information about China that is suppressed at home, such as the story of the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. In fact, many young Chinese who study in the United States seem to enjoy American freedoms and seek to stay rather than return to serve the motherland. Beijing has tried to deal with this in part by monitoring the activities of its students in the U.S. and attempting to hold them firmly to the party line, including by harassing the families back home of those who stray. Within China, authorities can more easily confine students inside the government's propaganda bubble, which in recent years has become more airtight. Domestic media seek to portray the U.S. as unsafe, especially for Asians, by highlighting incidents of racial discrimination, violence, and disorder. One story published last year by the state news agency Xinhua, under the headline 'Chinese Students' Dreams Turned Into Nightmares at U.S. Doorstep,' tells the harrowing tale of a Chinese student detained and deported at an airport and claims that others had suffered the same fate. China's top spy agency, the Ministry of State Security, warned Chinese students at universities abroad against being recruited as foreign agents, and told of one such unfortunate national who was discovered and punished. Even before Trump's announcement, this climate of mutual distrust had led to a drop-off in Chinese students enrolled in American universities. The number had reached an all-time high during the 2019–20 academic year, topping 372,000, according to the Institute of International Education. But that figure has fallen since—by a quarter, to 277,000, in the 2023–24 academic year. Now India, with more than 331,000 enrolled, sends more students to American institutions than China does. The Trump administration appears to believe that curtailing Chinese access to American technology, money, and, in this case, education will give the U.S. the edge over its closest competitor. In some areas, this might work: Restricting the export of advanced U.S. semiconductor technology to China seems to have helped hold Beijing's chip industry back. So why not do the same with higher education? A case can be made that keeping Chinese students out of some of the world's top research institutions will hold back their skills acquisition and, with it, the country's progress. Adam Serwer: Trump is wearing America down In practice, though, the effect of this policy could be hard to gauge. The engineers behind the Chinese AI firm DeepSeek, which wowed Silicon Valley by developing a competitive chatbot on the cheap, were mainly locally trained. And the skills that Chinese students can't find at home they can seek in any number of places. There may be only so many Harvards, but Chinese students can receive a good education—and a warmer reception—in countries other than the United States. Universities in Japan and Hong Kong are already trying to capitalize on Trump's harassment of international students to lure them. The idea that any American policy can effectively dampen Chinese ambition may be far-fetched. 'People wake up in the morning and it's all about education here. There is nothing more important,' James McGregor, the chair for China at the consulting firm APCO, told me. 'You're going to stop Chinese people from learning the top skills in the world? No. They'll just deploy them somewhere else.' For now, the Trump team can't seem to decide whether it wants to get tough on China or make deals with China, and the new student-visa policy reflects this confusion. 'Chinese students are coming. No problem,' Trump said in a briefing after his call with Xi. 'It's our honor to have them, frankly.' China's leadership surely knows that many Chinese families still aspire to send their young-adult children to American universities. But Beijing is much more single-minded than Washington about the future of relations between the two countries: Xi appears to see Washington as the primary impediment to China's rise, and ties to the U.S. as a vulnerability best eliminated. From that viewpoint, relying on Harvard to train China's most promising students is a national-security risk. That means that Trump may be doing Xi a favor.
