Chinese espionage has infiltrated our communications networks through telecommunications companies such as Huawei and ZTE, and by selling cheap routers with bugs that have yet to be fixed. VulnerabilityBut none is more pervasive than China's weaponization of our mobile devices through apps.
TikTok is a clear example. Congress has almost unanimously heeded warnings from the Director of National Intelligence and called on TikTok to sever financial ties with its parent company, ByteDance (a known Chinese government-backed company). The Department of Justice has sued the company for blatant violations of federal privacy law, and state governments are investigating a host of other privacy violations. Yet Apple continues to promote the app, listing it as a “must-have” app along with an “Editor's Choice” award.
And TikTok is just the tip of the iceberg: Hundreds of apps in Apple's App Store have openly admitted to providing sensitive data to China, including some that use Apple's ARKit, which allows apps to detect personal information within China. Over 50 unique expressions project 30,000 infrared dots It creates a 3D map of the user's face and the app Retaining Data.
China-based AI company Meitu's BeautyCam-AI Photo Editor uses ARKit to extract “facial mapping information.” The app 2 million It was downloaded more than 1 million times last month. Another China-based app, ProKnockOut-Cut Paste Photos, uses Apple's ARKit and says that “information is stored in China.” Privacy Policy.
Some of these apps have admitted to sending health data to China through Apple's HealthKit, which allows apps to collect over 100 data points across a range of categories. China-based health app Wearfit Pro has: access The app pulls data from Apple's HealthKit and makes it clear that “the data will be stored within the territory of the People's Republic of China.” The app's privacy policy states that it collects users' “sleep, heart rate, blood oxygen, blood pressure, blood glucose, body temperature, weight, physical age, heart rate and other data.”
Other apps don’t even try to hide their Chinese ties. The privacy policy for the “beautification” app Mico – Aesthetic Screen Maker is written in Chinese. Translated, it reads: It readsIt clearly states that “We store your information collected and generated during our domestic operations within the territory of the People's Republic of China” and that the governing law is “the laws of the People's Republic of China.”
All of these apps, and dozens, possibly hundreds more, are subject to China's national security law, which requires tech companies to disclose all data they have in the United States directly to the Chinese government.
For example, China's 2015 National Security Law requires Chinese nationals employed by U.S. companies to cooperate with investigations that may expose the U.S. companies' or nationals' business units. China's 2021 Cyber Vulnerability Reporting Act requires China-based companies to report security flaws to the Chinese government, allowing the companies to “exploit flaws in systems before cyber vulnerabilities become publicly known.” Article 7 China's 2017 National Intelligence Law imposes a legal obligation on these organizations to hand over data they collect both overseas and domestically to the Chinese government.
These laws effectively turn Apple-approved China-based apps into spyware for the Chinese government.
Apple has to solve this problem. Recruit The App Store is a “safe and trusted marketplace.” [its] They boast about rejecting “users” 375,000 They reject app submissions for “privacy violations.” How can Apple claim to be protecting American consumers when there are Chinese apps like these on the market?
Apple makes these apps easy for users to find, with several in the top 100 within their app categories. Apple not only distributes these apps, it also promotes them. This fact alone makes Apple's safety and privacy claims hollow and disingenuous.
So why does Apple continue to promote Chinese spyware? Money. The profits Apple receives from App Store sales give it an excuse to ignore privacy and security issues in its high-profit apps.
American tech companies do not want to anger China because it is directly linked to their profits. Apple CEO Tim Cook has described China as “DeadlyThe company has pledged to inject “innovation” into Apple's supply chain, increase investment in the region, and expand its research and development facilities. Multi-billion dollar deal With the Chinese government demanding that the company “store customer data on servers in China and actively censor the app,” the makings of a national security disaster are in the works.
TikTok is just the beginning. It's time to hold Apple's App Store more accountable to thwart the clear threat that Chinese spyware poses to nation states.
Joel Thayer is president of the Digital Progress Institute and a technology and communications industry lawyer in Washington.
