Rapid Rise of Chinese App Talkie Should Raise Concerns in the US: Experts

Demonstrators hold placards urging citizens to remove Chinese apps and stop using Chinese products in New Delhi, in this file photo. Prakash Singh/AFP via Getty Images

Following the success of TikTok and Temu, another Chinese-developed app, Talkie, has quickly gained popularity in the United States. Given the concerns over data theft and the influence of Chinese tech companies, some Chinese affairs experts believe the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has backed Talkie’s rapid expansion into Western markets, and the app carries hidden factors of China’s unrestricted war against the West.

Launched about a year ago, Talkie is a conversational AI platform that allows users to engage with a series of virtual characters through the app, such as Donald Trump, Taylor Swift, Elon Musk, and other celebrities. These characters, powered by artificial intelligence, are designed to mimic a natural conversation with the user. According to Data.ai, the app was ranked among the top six entertainment apps on Apple’s app store in July.

Although the app’s developer is listed as a Singaporean startup, SubSup, Talkie’s parent company is actually MiniMax, a Shanghai-based company and one of several top AI firms in China. The app primarily targets a young audience, particularly American teens and young adults, mirroring TikTok’s demographic focus.

Tang Jingyuan, a China affairs commentator and columnist, said he believes that the Chinese regime’s influence has been instrumental in Talkie’s rapid rise in the U.S. market.

“The Chinese regime’s backing likely played a crucial role in Talkie’s swift rise to success in the United States in a short period of time. I believe the CCP has invested state resources in developing the technology and opening up the U.S. market. Given what we know from TikTok’s experience with CCP influence, it’s clear that Talkie is likely subject to similar manipulation,” Tang told The Epoch Times.

Affiliation to CCP and Compliance Rules

Chinese-developed apps are inherently subject to the control and manipulation of the CCP.

According to Chinese state media, TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, first established a CCP branch in October 2014 and later formed a CCP committee in April 2017. The committee had several working groups consisting of at least 140 people.

In a January Senate hearing on TikTok, U.S. Senator Tom Cotton raised concerns with TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew about the presence of a CCP arm within ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company. He said ByteDance’s obligations under China’s National Security Law and its accountability to the CCP required it to comply.

Cotton questioned the independence of TikTok’s operations in light of these ties, implying skepticism about the company’s claim to be uninfluenced by the CCP despite these connections.

Double Standards

“In the past, creating fake news or distorted information required a lot of labor, which was expensive and slow, but using AI to create and spread fake information has become fast and inexpensive. Algorithms such as TikTok’s algorithm or Talkie’s AI that mimics the voices of celebrities make it easy to customize content in bulk,” Lin Tsungnan, a professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering at National Taiwan University, told the Chinese-language edition of The Epoch Times.

He further added that the Chinese regime is aware of the power of such technologies and has adopted different strategies for domestic and international versions of these apps.

“When Talkie first gained popularity in China, it was quickly removed by the authorities for containing politically sensitive and pornographic content. The application was subsequently modified, renamed ‘Xingye’ (meaning ‘Star Field’ in English), and relaunched. The international version of Talkie, however, remains unrestricted. This is likely an effort by the CCP to leverage TikTok’s experience in swaying public opinion, with the goal of using Talkie as a chat app to influence American society once again because the unrestricted version is better suited for this purpose,” Lin said.

Similarly, the Chinese version of TikTok, Douyin, is only available in China, while TikTok is aimed at the international market and cannot be accessed or downloaded in China.

Douyin strictly adheres to Chinese censorship laws and online codes of conduct, which influence the type of content allowed on the platform. It filters politically sensitive and harmful content. TikTok, which targets a global audience, follows a different set of rules.

Data Concerns

Recently, Chinese e-commerce company Temu was accused of illicitly acquiring personal information, raising concerns about security risks as it expands overseas markets with cheaper goods.

Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin filed a lawsuit against Temu on June 25 accusing the company of deceptive practices. Griffin called the app a “data theft business” and advised U.S. citizens to exercise caution when using it.

Griffin noted that while retailers such as Amazon and Walmart collect consumer data within certain limits, Temu’s actions far exceed those limits, operating as a data theft company under the guise of an e-commerce platform.

An analytical report by Grizzly Research revealed that Temu can illegally access smartphone operating systems without authorization, allowing unrestricted access to user data, including camera functions, location information, contacts, messages, documents, and other applications.

The report also details Temu’s confusing business model. It reportedly loses $30 on every order, and exorbitant costs for advertising and shipping from China to the United States call into question the venture’s profitability.

Tang said that the infiltration of numerous Chinese apps into Western countries must have relied on extensive support from China in terms of funding and manpower. He cautioned that Western nations should not merely view these Chinese companies through the lens of “trade wars.”

“In the era of big data and information, data is an important resource in trade wars that can be applied in many areas. But for the CCP, it is seen as a potent weapon in the war to undermine democracies such as the United States,” Tang said.