Policy & Ethicssocial mediasurveillancetiktokdeepseek
Chinese Apps Pose Widespread Surveillance Threat
6.8
Author Wynton Hall argues in his forthcoming book Code Red that Chinese-made apps TikTok and DeepSeek are 'Trojan Horses' used by the Chinese Communist Party to collect sensitive data on Americans, including keystrokes, IPs, and browsing habits. TikTok has about 150 million U.S. monthly users and DeepSeek roughly 4 million; Hall and lawmakers warn the data could enable espionage, influence campaigns, or surveillance.
Key Points
- 1Alleges Chinese apps TikTok and DeepSeek collect keystrokes, IPs, browsing and behavioral metadata from US users.
- 2Warns CCP could exploit collected data under China's 2017 National Intelligence Law for espionage or influence campaigns.
- 3Implies policymakers should restrict app use on government devices and consider ownership or operational controls.
Scoring Rationale
High national-security relevance and measurable market impact, but conclusions rest largely on a single forthcoming book and press reports.
Sources
Public references used for this report.
Practice with real Ad Tech data
90 SQL & Python problems · 15 industry datasets
Used by DS/ML engineers at top companies
Active Search Campaigns by BudgetEasyHigh CPC Clicks & Poor Landing PagesMediumCampaign ROAS by Attribution ModelHard
250 free problems · No credit card
See all Ad Tech problems