The VPNs are available to download on Apple and Google app stores, the Technology Transparency Project found.
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.
Several of the apps were also linked to Chinese cybersecurity firm Qihoo 360, which has been sanctioned by the United States over its ties to the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army, TTP found.
While some of those apps have since been pulled from the Apple App Store, 13 others identified by TTP remain available more than six weeks after they were first identified.
The Google Play Store still offers 11 apps that have ties to Chinese companies, TTP said.
TTP is a research initiative of Campaign for Accountability, a nonprofit ethics watchdog group headquartered in Washington.
According to its official website, the project seeks to hold large technology companies accountable and “shed light on the power and influence of the major tech platforms and their failures to protect users.”
“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,” Campaign for Accountability Executive Director Michelle Kuppersmith said in a statement.
“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.”
Apple’s guidelines explicitly state that apps offering VPN services in its app store “may not sell, use, or disclose to third parties any data for any purpose, and must commit to this in their privacy policy.”
