Apple and Google make VPNS applications associated with the Chinese group that was set by the sanctions

Apple and Google mobile stores host mobile phones many famous “special browsing” applications run by a company connected to the Chinese Internet Security company listed by the United States government.

At least five free virtual private networks (VPNS) available through American Technology Application Application stores have links to Qihoo 360 listed in Shanghai, according to a new report issued by the transparency project in the research group, as well as additional results by financial times.

Qio, officially known as 360 Security Technology, was subjected to sanctions by the United States in 2020 due to the alleged Chinese military ties. The US Department of Defense later added Qihoo to the list of Chinese army companies.

The TTP report, which also found 20 of the 100 most downloaded apps on the Apple App Store, warns their Chinese owners, from “millions of Americans unintentionally send their internet movement to Chinese companies.”

Revelation comes in a climate of increasing concerns in the United States about Chinese technology companies National security risks They may be presented.

VPNS allows users to avoid geographical restrictions on web sites and protection walls, providing an encoded connection to a server through which they can access the content that will be banned in their country.

But the network connection also provides VPN’s supervision of the user’s Internet activity. Chinese national security laws require all companies and individuals to cooperate with investigations into state intelligence and deliver data if requested.

The five applications associated with Qihoo-or Turbo VPN, VPN Proxy Master, Thunder VPN, Snap VPN and Signal Secure VPN- are available at Apple and Google stores from last week. After calling the Financial Times Apple to comment, Thunder VPN and Snap VPN were withdrawn from its store.

According to estimates from Sensor Tower, three of the applications in the portfolio received more than 1 million download from the Apple App Store and the Google’s Play store combined in 2025.

The wallet is run by innovative Connecting, based in Singapore, which in turn has in lemon seed technology, based in the Cayman Islands, according to applications and business records in Singapore.

Qihoo told investors that it paid $ 69.9 million to lemon and two other companies in January 2020. In May of that year, the United States added Qihoo to Commercial Commercial ListKnown as the entity list. This step was cut from American technology and may have been exposed to its VPN applications, which are entirely targeting international users because they are outside the borders in China.

By September, Qihoo said he decided to sell. Investors told it “re -thinking about its external strategy” and sold what it called “Project L” for $ 70.1 million. The buyer did not reveal.

But Qihoo, which was established in December 2019 to employ developers in China, which managed apps, remained part of Qihoo.

In 2021, the name of the sub -company was changed to the Guangzhou Lianchuang technology. In 2023, it was finally sold to the newly created Beijing Company to RMB1, according to local business records that FT saw.

The majority owner of Beijing Nene was named. A man with the same name operated the Qioo phone safety section and is the only director of the lemon seed.

When FT recently visited the Guangzhou Lianchuang office, two developers said they were working on foreign VPN networks and that their company was linked to Qihoo.

One of the programmers said, without presenting a name: “You can say that we are part of them and you can say that we are not.” “It is complicated.”

In recent recruitment lists, Guangzhou Languang says its applications are working in more than 220 countries and have a daily user of 10 million. It is an employment of a situation that includes its responsibilities “monitoring and analyzing the basic system data.” The post says that the appropriate candidate will be “good knowledge of American culture.”

Apple and Google have policies that prevent VPN applications from using or collecting user data without their consent, with the iPhone maker prohibiting the sharing of any data with third parties.

The applications themselves have their own privacy policies, but Matthew Green, an expert at Johns Hopkins University, has reviewed individual VPNS security, it is not easy to make sure to follow them.

“VPNS is a great exception (Apple’s privacy efforts), because it attaches itself to connecting the root network with your phone,” Green said, with all online activity through the VPN service, Green said. “It is not a very binding promise, and nothing is easy to impose.”

Apple removed VPN applications – which allowed users to overcome the protection wall in China – from the application store in China in 2017, in a move that criticized developers as a sign of the air company with government control. Google withdrew from China in 2010 and a store that was not available in the country.

Apple said it was in full compliance with relevant laws and regulations, and it will take a procedure to remove applications that break the strict VPN or make them comply with them.

She added that the rules of its application store were not restricted to the ownership of applications by citizens or companies in certain countries.

Google said it is “committed to compliance with the applicable sanctions and the laws of commercial compliance”, and that “when we define accounts that may violate these laws or our relevant policies or conditions of service, we take the appropriate action.”

In January, Google announced that it would provide “verification” badges for VPN apps in the Play Store, which has taken additional steps to set safety priorities. Turbo VPN receives a “check” badge.

The innovative connection said that the content of the article was not accurate and refused to comment more. Guangzhou Languang refused to comment. Qihoo and Chen Niningi did not respond to the suspension requests.