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 of the top 100 free VPNs in the U.S. Apple App Store in 2024 showed evidence of Chinese ownership that was not disclosed to users.
None of the apps disclosed their alleged Chinese ties, and some “obscured their origins behind layers of shell companies,” TTP said….