Centralized smartphone app storefronts, like Apple’s App Store for iPhone and the Google Play Store for Android, make apps feel like they all come from the same safe place online, but the developers behind these apps are spread out all over the world. This month, the FBI brought attention to international developers, warning that installing apps built by foreign nations could pose a major threat to user privacy and security. Are they right? Let’s find out. Do you use these popular Chinese apps? On the final day of March, the FBI issued a warning “to highlight data security risks associated with foreign-developed mobile applications (apps) frequently used in the United States.” The FBI was especially critical of apps developed in the heart of China. Although it didn’t go out of its way to list some of the most dubious offenders, you may have heard of these popular candidates:
TikTok, before its USDS joint venture, was made and owned wholly by ByteDance in Beijing.
Temu and Shein, two popular online discount stores, are Chinese-owned with the former belonging to PDD Holdings Inc. in Shanghai and the latter founded by Chris Xu, who moved his company’s headquarters from China to Singapore earlier this decade, though there are talks that Xu may relocate back to the mainland for an IPO.
CapCut, a popular mobile video editing app, is also developed by ByteDance, especially to help users create more engaging TikTok videos.
RedNote (aka Xiaohongshu), a TikTok alternative that briefly garnered public attention in the USA after TikTok’s USDS joint venture launch, is also based in Shanghai.
Tencent, a technology giant out of Shenzhen, owns the popular texting app WeChat. The company also invests in many U.S.-based game companies, including Epic Games (makers of Fortnite), Larian Studios (the group behind Baldur’s Gate 3), and FromSoftware (the developers of Elden Ring).
Needless to say, Chinese companies — and by extension, the Chinese government — have their hands in many apps and games that U.S.-based users enjoy daily.
Source: RED FLAG: FBI says these apps let China suck up your personal data | Blaze Media
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