A Chinese app spreads communist propaganda and then goes ahead and steals your data along the way, according to The Washington Post.
"The [Chinese Communist Party] essentially has access to over 100 million users' data," Open Technology Fund Director Sarah Aoun, a U.S. government-funded arm of Radio Free Asia, told the Post. "That's coming from the top of a government that is expanding its surveillance into citizens' day-to-day lives."
The CCP phone application has been pushed by the government this year and gives "superuser" access to every message, photo, contact, Internet history, and an audio recorder, but Apple says the spying capability is blocked on its phones, according to the report.
"It's very, very uncommon for an application to require that level of access to the device, and there's no reason to have these privileges unless you're doing something you’re not supposed to be," OTF research director Adam Lynn told the Post.
"The access itself is significant. The fact that they've gone to these lengths [to hide it] only further heightens the scrutiny around this," he said.
The app "Study the Great Nation" was launched by President Xi Jinping's party in January and has become the most downloaded app in China with more than 100 million registered uses in April, per the Post.
"It can take over the entire device, and it could be sending back information," Lynn told the Post.
China enacted a cybersecurity law two years ago that required tech companies to share data with its government, something the Trump administration calls forced technology transfer and is working to curb in his trade-deal negotiations.
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