High-Risk Chinese Apps Raise Security Concerns in Taiwan
Crystal Tu, assistant research fellow at the Institute for National Defense and Security Research, speaks with TaiwanPlus about the government's concerns over the growing influence of high-risk Chinese mobile apps and potential dangers tied to data collection and privacy.
High-Risk Chinese Apps in Taiwan
REPORTER:
How popular are these apps, or similar ones, in Taiwan? Are they widespread enough to pose a threat?
Crystal Tu (ASSISTANT RESEARCH FELLOW, INDSR):
There are various status for popularity. So, um, for some apps like, uh, map add it maps that they have some clear other alternatives, but for some other apps with live streaming, like, uh, II and, uh, BB that it has a kind of a, the entire entertainment ecosystem behind it. So that's extremely popular for people who like to follow, uh, Chinese dramas or even follow the others. So I guess that's the, uh, status we see in Taiwan is that, um, it's not just apps, it's represents an entire ecosystem behind that is occupied the kind of niche here in Taiwan and is obviously popular among different age groups and generations here.
REPORTER:
Do you think users are aware of the danger of using these apps?
Crystal Tu (ASSISTANT RESEARCH FELLOW, INDSR):
The apps, the way that terms and conditions designs for Chinese apps usually is not as clear as the other nations or as purposely made it difficult for you to read what they actually collect their informations. So I guess it's difficult for users to actually know how much data is actually accessed. And not to mention that if the apps has um unclear, um, specialties or unclear collections of data, which is also extremely common for Chinese mobile apps, then that I guess most of the user is not aware
REPORTER:
Are warnings like today’s enough? Or do you think more limits on these apps are necessary?
Crystal Tu (ASSISTANT RESEARCH FELLOW, INDSR):
The government has the responsibility to raise the kind of awareness and warning about the Risk associated with this s, but the in terms of jurisdiction, it's really difficult to take any kind of formal actions toward that, as we see from Google Maps or, um, like previous years with little Red book Xiaohongshu, it's actually very challenging for, um, going to a formal legal pathway. So the roles of the government is to raise the kind of awareness about, make the people's here aware of the risk they are taking, but fundamentally, they will be very challenging specifically for the streaming apps that they have entire entertainment ecosystem behind that. That will be very hard to do without apps if there's no other obvious alternative here
