Jon Pelson

After TikTok, there’s another app we should ban

The headquarters of ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok and Gauth (Getty Images)

The American House of Representatives has passed a bill ordering Bytedance, a Chinese company, to divest from TikTok or stop operating in the USA. Their involvement in the app risks national security, the critics say. But what about other apps owned by Chinese companies? Should they be banned too?

The most insidious part about Gauth? Look at the reviews. Apparently it gets the homework wrong.

Gauth, or Gauthmath as it is known in the UK and elsewhere in the world, is a tutoring app designed to help children complete their homework in maths and science. It’s currently the #2 educational app in the Apple app store, and is targeted at primary school children. Only the very youngest need parental approval to use the app. Gauth describes itself, innocently enough, as a ‘Study Companion’. Kids take a photo of a difficult problem, and Gauth solves it for them. So what?

Gauth is listed in the app store as Singapore-based, but is in fact owned by Bytedance.

Written by
Jon Pelson

Jon Pelson is the author of Wireless Wars: China’s Dangerous Domination of 5G and How We’re Fighting Back and is the chief commercial officer of Rampart Communications.

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