Some Chinese tech companies including big ones have been caught engaging in illegal behavior. One of the targeted companies is Baidu that offers a search engine and a detailed map and is therefore considered to be an equivalent of Google in China. Moreover, the company offers its services to users outside of China as well.
Google had removed Baidu’s apps from the Play Store after noticing the suspicious nature of their data mining practices, and later the apps were allowed back, but once again Baidu is under scrutiny for allegedly collecting sensitive data from users.
China is generally known to be the hub of developers and a lot of times, apps that we commonly see on the internet and download on our devices come from Chinese developers. The Chinese government follows a rather lax approach when it comes to the privacy of individuals.
A major example is the popular Chinese-owned social app TikTok that has observed a significant rise in usage over the past few months and has also become a target of criticism from Western governments that have been calling for increased regulation for the app.
It is therefore, part of users’ responsibility to be mindful of the apps they use while fully trusting them, because one may never know if an app is dangerous or threatening for one’s privacy and security.
