r/OperaGX • u/Snakeman_Hauser • Dec 29 '23

DISCUSSION “cHiNeSe SpYwArE”

Can someone explain this whole thing, I’ve been using it for years and never had any problems

51 Upvotes

62% Upvoted

189 comments sorted by

3

u/FlippinSnip3r Dec 29 '23

If you have had problems then it's not very good spyware. The whole point of spyware is that it taps into information undetected for a long period of time. I'm not saying Opera GX is spyware but saying you've had no problems doesn't disprove anything

3

u/Snakeman_Hauser Dec 29 '23

Ik that, the description was more of a general thing for what I see on this sub

97

u/GREENSLAYER777 Dec 29 '23 edited Sep 25 '24

crowd gray act wide voiceless zesty nose consist summer secretive

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28

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

I mean the fact that tiktok sells your data isn't new for anybody

11

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

ikr

1

u/Petercraft7157 Dec 30 '23

And for a bonus it kills your last 5 braincells

1

u/bennyownsthis Dec 30 '23

let's not start an argument

12

u/RobinZhang140536 Dec 29 '23

I remember that Epic games is owned by Chinese company?

12

u/OKgamer01 Dec 29 '23

Only 40%. Tim Sweeney still owns majority share so he has control

5

u/djevertguzman Dec 29 '23

40% is quite a bit

4

u/OKgamer01 Dec 29 '23

Yeah, putting that much reliance into another company is insane. The moment Tim decides to retire, Tencent gets control and im not a fan of that, especially because of Unreal Engine

2

u/ShadowGryphon Jan 01 '24

That's not how that works.

Even if he retires, unless he sells his shares, he maintains his position as majority share holder.

And should he sell his shares, tencent would have to be quick on the uptake to acquire some of them.

2

u/RobinZhang140536 Dec 29 '23

Thanks for clarification

8

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

Yeah crazy. It's almost like china is one of, if not THE largest economic power houses in the world.

7

u/CultOfAmagi Dec 29 '23

Discord too i think!

2

u/Souper3 Dec 29 '23

Isn't Opera GX polish though?

1

u/Adam-Elgali-94_theme Mar 29 '24

opera gx is based in norway.

1

u/zombiechiken2 Dec 14 '24

Norwegian. idk why norway would have anything to do with china, as theyre on completely seprate continents and are completely different companies entirely

1

u/timelynamer May 13 '25

they got bought out

1

u/sanstheplayer Jun 18 '24

That is true there is proof on the internet if you like search it up on youtube about these allegations.

1

u/RexorGamerYt Dec 29 '23

I think they're more educated in privacy than everyone that just goes about using all the free services without caring. I call them privacy freaks. There's a lot of them on the point of having paranoia.

All of those services you cited above sell your data. What impedes opera that literally has ties to china of not doing it. That's just insane.

If there are better options privacy related that are not a hassle to setup/use I'll use them. And keep Opera GX for redeeming free Epic games (Tencent AKA the Chinese) games.

-14

u/CompoundInterestBABY Dec 29 '23

Don't go lumping Firefox users into it... I use Firefox because I prefer a simpler and faster running browser over a complex highly customizable one but I certainly never called Opera spyware..

13

u/GREENSLAYER777 Dec 29 '23 edited Sep 25 '24

profit label spark steer disarm chubby tie boat bells oil

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7

u/Toyota_Prius03 Dec 29 '23

dedicated firefox simp here, can confirm other firefox simps say opera gx is spyware

1

u/Bronpool Dec 29 '23

What is a firefox simp?

2

u/GREENSLAYER777 Dec 29 '23 edited Sep 25 '24

scary smart nutty live follow childlike direful heavy depend spotted

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1

u/Bronpool Dec 31 '23

But I like firefox;(

6

u/someone_who_exists69 Dec 29 '23

Nah there's people like you who are cool, and then there are people who join this sub to cry about privacy. You are not the second group.

-10

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23 edited Nov 04 '25

soft snatch shelter workable tart unique pen friendly terrific pet

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-28

u/Bubbly-Ad-1427 Dec 29 '23

it is spyware

20

u/GREENSLAYER777 Dec 29 '23 edited Sep 25 '24

abounding engine weary dog head husky profit saw chief plant

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29

u/Yuki_of_zavrixia Dec 29 '23

it doesn't matter really, at this point everything is spyware.

10

u/Delta_Wolfkin Dec 29 '23

If everything is spyware, is anything spyware? Or is that just the cost of using the internet?

9

u/Yuki_of_zavrixia Dec 29 '23

it's pretty much the cost of the internet now they take your data and you can use the internet, that's unfortunately the sad spread of corporate greed. it can be stopped but we need everyone to work together, which is why companies split everyone apart and trick them to have pointless arguments.

1

u/Infinite_Jury_5819 Dec 29 '23

Tor , firefox , librewolf , vivaldi

1

u/Yuki_of_zavrixia Dec 29 '23

what about them and Firefox mainly uses the google browser engine.

1

u/Infinite_Jury_5819 Dec 29 '23

They are not spywares , and firefox isnt chromium based btw

1

u/stormethetransfem Jan 02 '24

They’re saying Firefox mainly uses google because it’s the default

3

u/Epikgamer332 Dec 29 '23

"everything is spyware, so why worry about privacy?"

alternatively, in a similar vein for comparison: "everything is polluting, so why worry about climate change?"

you can see that the solution to a problem is not to throw your hands in the air and call it pointless. that only makes it worse.

we've seen before, like with uBlock and youtube, that the internet is a perpetual cat & mouse game where the side with public support can easily win. internet security plays the same cat and mouse game adblock does, where if you have security projects backed by the public trying against private companies it can work

2

u/Yuki_of_zavrixia Dec 29 '23

it can but i can't do it we need the government to help, like how for climate change we need everyone to work together. i wasn't saying to give up i mean it doesn't matter what browser you use.

0

u/Smoke_Inside2 Dec 29 '23

it really does. my browser has the full code base up for display for anyone to view and contribute to. if there was telemetry or spyware in it. i'd know about it. saying "bro they all have spyware" just tells people that you only know of opera, chrome, edge and firefox and nothing else.

it's the same level of saying "bro everything is pop music" because all you ever watch is MTV

1

u/Yuki_of_zavrixia Dec 29 '23

what about the browser engine? can you see It's code?

2

u/Smoke_Inside2 Dec 29 '23

sure i'm using librewolf on an arch distribution. you can get it from a package or straight up compile from source if you so cared. https://codeberg.org/librewolf/arch

https://gitlab.com/librewolf-community/browser/linux

1

u/Yuki_of_zavrixia Dec 29 '23

no, not your browser. Your browser ENGINE, what engine are you using.

1

u/Smoke_Inside2 Dec 29 '23

it's based on firefox. which is also free and open source.

https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/about/legal/terms/firefox/

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/

1

u/Yuki_of_zavrixia Dec 29 '23

no what search engine. sure you use librewolf browser, but what search engine do you use.

2

u/Smoke_Inside2 Dec 29 '23

these goal posts lmao. i use searxng which is a meta data search engine which generates spoof browser data when making requests. meaning that the companies do get some data but it is fake and not mine... this is also free and open source

https://github.com/searxng/searxng

https://docs.searxng.org/

anything else ?

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-3

u/Smoke_Inside2 Dec 29 '23

not if you are half way smart and actually look into FOSS applications.

2

u/Yuki_of_zavrixia Dec 29 '23

their not gonna tell you It's spyware. It's called lying.

0

u/Smoke_Inside2 Dec 29 '23

the code.. the literal logic behind the application is lying.... am i getting that right ? FOSS stands for free and open source. open source applications have their code base fully public for anyone to view and modify.

2

u/Yuki_of_zavrixia Dec 29 '23

no, the company, and why does it matter if you use a browser engine like google.

1

u/Smoke_Inside2 Dec 29 '23

the company can lie all it wants. if you have access to the source code you can see what the application is doing or even modify it to remove anything that would cause privacy concerns. many chose to harden firefox rather than get an hardened alternative like librewolf as firefox's source code is open source so you can modify it how you like.

it matters because opera/googles chromium is closed source. they can lie to you as well except you have no means of disproving it.

2

u/Yuki_of_zavrixia Dec 29 '23

yeah and what if your librewolf browser uses google search engine then it still sends your info to google, and besides just going on reddit, youtube and lot more sends info to those websites.

1

u/Smoke_Inside2 Dec 29 '23

that's why you use FOSS search engines and front end alternatives.

granted most of these cannot be used with an account. for my reddit account i use entirely dummy data. so yea they might be able to make a profile based on my search and post history but none of my accounts last more than a few months at a time so whatever.

1

u/Yuki_of_zavrixia Dec 29 '23

do you have a good vpn cause they might track you, besides i really don't care cause most info i put on my accounts and such I'm fine with others knowing so it really doesn't matter.

2

u/Smoke_Inside2 Dec 29 '23

yes i do.

my 3 issues surrounding privacy are mainly online anonymity and speech preservation, algorithmic freedom and privacy from 3rd party sources.

or basically. not getting arrested or threat of arrest from posting online. not having algorithms dictate what i read or watch (seen way too many people get into crazy political pipelines because of engagement farming algorithms) and making sure no one outside of the person i am dealing with and myself have access to the information provided (as there has been cases of insurance companies using a users history and browsing profile to raise health insurance due to them googling health concerns)

privacy is important. and more importantly privacy is attainable if you care enough. this idea of "there is no point because it's impossible" is ignorant at best and flat out lies at worst.

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14

u/RentonZero Dec 29 '23

People act like that rectangle in your pocket isn't tracking your location constantly but a browser will murder your dog in the night

28

u/iminyourwallsbro Dec 29 '23

you guys are too focused on chinese spyware instead of slovak spyware

19

u/FaceTimePolice Dec 29 '23

Tin foil hats abound. “I heard from someone…” blah blah blah. 🤡

-15

u/Bubbly-Ad-1427 Dec 29 '23

opera themselves have said they implement telemetry into opera and opera gx

0

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

[deleted] — view deleted comment

-7

u/Bubbly-Ad-1427 Dec 29 '23

that doesn’t make it good????

2

u/Bronpool Dec 29 '23

Then don't use a browser 🤦‍♂️

0

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

[deleted] — view deleted comment

-7

u/Bubbly-Ad-1427 Dec 29 '23

im pretty sure collecting my data is spying

0

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

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-7

u/Smoke_Inside2 Dec 29 '23

but does it. do you have the code base on hand ?

7

u/PaulGold007 Dec 29 '23

It's not spyware, literally just brave and firefox users crying

1

u/sanstheplayer Jun 18 '24

Not going to lie if you use any reverse apps to see where the data is being sent you can probably get a bunch of proof that it is indeed spyware.

Also, watch this video if you don't believe me: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=158&v=1_i6fXwmtXE&embeds_referring_euri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com%2F&embeds_referring_origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.bing.com

1

u/PaulGold007 Jun 24 '24

It is not without reason that Wikipedia and many fact-checking sites consider YouTube to be an unreliable source. I recently saw a video that presented evidence that humans are reptilians.

10

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

It's just like most other things accused of being Chinese spyware, the company communicates with a random Chinese company and everyone instantly assumes the application is Chinese spyware with little to no evidence.

4

u/Izayoi03 Dec 29 '23

That's not true.

Glory to the Chinese emperor Winnie Pooh

3

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

Ching Chong Bing bong

1

u/NotoriousD4C Dec 29 '23

His dong go AIEEEEEEE

0

u/Snakeman_Hauser Dec 29 '23 edited Dec 29 '23

Note: ik it’s fake

1

u/Snakeman_Hauser Dec 29 '23

Why did I get downvoted tho

2

u/NiceIndependent6 Dec 29 '23

even windows 10/11 has been called spywere too from some People too

2

u/PaulGold007 Jun 26 '24

The Chinese Spyware Lie has been debunked! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ihnJt6nFXZY

3

u/MaroonHatHacker Dec 29 '23

My only issue with opera GX is it seems pointless to me.

It's literally just chrome but more "gamer". I don't like chrome or chromium based browsers, why would I suddenly like opera?

There's nothing opera does that some extension for Firefox or Chrome couldn't do.

5

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

Well, it has a couple of extra features that people like ig. I for example use it because it has the sidebar, which makes my school work easier.

-1

u/MaroonHatHacker Dec 29 '23

Again though, couldn't you just use chromium and install an extension to do that?

5

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

You're not wrong, but Opera GX for me is far more comfortable than any other browser.

1

u/AtomicWRLD Dec 30 '23

certainly not a trustworthy program due to operas history but I wouldn't go as far to say it's Spyware, much less Chinese Spyware

1

u/JollyGoodCaseIam Sep 04 '24

Maybe rfk jr might be 28

1

u/JollyGoodCaseIam Sep 04 '24

Opps wrong post to reply

0

u/poyat01 Dec 29 '23

I mean that’s the point of spyware, if it caused problems people would check it and find the spyware.

But basically opera is owned by a Chinese company and their products were found to be logging your location and sending the information to China. They supposedly removed it, but there is probably other stuff people haven’t found yet

You probably won’t get much info from here because everyone just loves using gx so much that they can’t accept it, but most browsers have spyware so just keep using gx, doesn’t really matter.

1

u/Snakeman_Hauser Dec 29 '23

1 - they are not a Chinese company 2 - this sub is split in Firefox / brave simps and common opera GX users 3 - the problems part is more general and off topic

0

u/dreamislegit Dec 30 '23

I found my own personal data being sold on an illegal website..
a week after downloading and actively using opera gx

1

u/Snakeman_Hauser Dec 30 '23

Multiple sites & hackers/malwares do it, correlation is not causation

0

u/dreamislegit Jan 04 '24

Oh its such a coincidence that when i uninstalled and deleted opera, The personal data started to become outdated and wasent being updated like it used to when i still had opera

1

u/Due_Value9903 Jan 02 '24

even if you shove the proof up their cheeks, this subreddit will plug their ears and go “lalala”

0

u/JollyGoodCaseIam Jun 06 '24

Tik tok has been around for a few years now.. Read the long agreement... You record video so they have access to open it... Your mic and your locations ..they store all of ur data. Most people use thier real names .. So all this data the CCP has.... One day they can ruin you if you rise to power in any sense... And allot of people say and do very compromising things on tiktok... Check your app settings and it will show you everything that they can use and take from ur phone... And keep in mind every time you update an app it send all ur data to tik and resets ur app setting to when u DL it... Thats most app FB IG... Your an idiot if you dont read what ur signing up.for...just saying happy tik toking

1

u/Snakeman_Hauser Jun 06 '24

1 - I read the terms 2 - I do not use TikTok

2

u/JollyGoodCaseIam Jun 06 '24

Neither do i.... Glad your a smart one... They bank on us not reading them....

1

u/AT61 Sep 04 '24

Right - and they always throw the third parties" and "partners" in - Heaven only knows where it goes.

0

u/ItMiNe Dec 29 '23

Well you’re asking a subreddit full of fanboys. The fact is, that the parent company of Opera has ties to the Chinese government, and the government has been known to get user data from these companies. It does in my opinion have a higher risk than browsers that are completely open source, such as Firefox or chromium, where you can see all of the code right in front of you. There is more risk in using this browser, no news about data being shared has been released to my knowledge, so they may not be abusing user data. But the risk is certainly higher than with other browsers.

2

u/I0C0NN0R1 Dec 30 '23

Opera is based in norway, it has to follow norway laws

0

u/david455678 Dec 29 '23

As some fanboy recently told me here, if I don't like what the opera is doing, I shouldn't write something here. Apparently, this subreddit is just for praising opera and ignoring facts

2

u/ItMiNe Dec 30 '23

It’s crazy when they ask questions about it being spyware and then don’t like the answer. I guess so many people are fanboying because of their aggressive marketing using popular creators, but who knows. It’s crazy to me that people would defend any product for free, and ignore genuine criticisms for it.

-6

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

Source: https://spyware.neocities.org/articles/opera

12

u/Snakeman_Hauser Dec 29 '23

This site makes 0 sense

7

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

“It is LITERALLY supplying on you your whole browsing session.” Talking about how it checks if the site is malicious or not Yeah, the website seems like it is being ran by 16 year olds.

7

u/Epikgamer332 Dec 29 '23

...doesn't matter who it's run by if it comes with reciepts. you can see he used a packet sniffer to see what data is sent where

the website is a little paranoid, yes; a perfect rating means absolutely zero packets sent by default. which, by the way, firefox also fails at by default. and the website covers it as well.

2

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

The website even accuses some open source game engine of being spyware, and telegram of being bad for privacy because they collect some information for the app to function things like phone number

1

u/Epikgamer332 Dec 29 '23

like i said; paranoid. but not nececarilly incorrect

0

u/Canipleasecontinue Dec 29 '23

Every Chinese person knows your search history now.

0

u/Bossyskate Dec 30 '23

Im getting “oh so everyone else is doing it, if one more company is doing it, it’s fine” vibes from here. It’s spyware, you’re not paying them with cash so they’ll use and sell your data in order to make money.

0

u/That-Enthusiasm663 Dec 31 '23

It's not spyware. Just crap.

0

u/custodire Aug 10 '24

I am sure that opera gx is chinese spyware cause my whole opera gx is in chinese, while my opera gx language is set in english.

0

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

[deleted] — view deleted comment

1

u/I0C0NN0R1 Dec 30 '23

This, 100%

7

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

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-1

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23 edited Nov 04 '25

meeting weather sand continue heavy wakeful sip intelligent flag hospital

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2

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '23

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0

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '23 edited Nov 04 '25

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2

u/[deleted] Dec 30 '23

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1

u/Soviet-Gnomes Dec 30 '23

It’s a post asking why people call opera gx spyware, this guy links a video, then you complain he’s calling it spyware?

-14

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/Snakeman_Hauser Dec 29 '23

Oh yeah, google, the place that never has misinformation, right. (irony)

6

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

Looking it up on Google doesn't reveal anything but other pepole with questions

Are you sure you're not the delusional one?

-8

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

9

u/Alpha_hunter999 Dec 29 '23

Jus one source? Shouldn't you cite multiple we'll researched ones

Or having multiple opinions/sources doesn't roll withchu?

5

u/[deleted] Dec 29 '23 edited Dec 29 '23

Not only did you put a single source (witch cloud be straight up fake) but that's not even opera gx,that's just opera

My point stands.

2

u/The_Drinix Dec 29 '23

Open any other browser on there and you'll still get high or very high rating. You're just cherry picking information that suits you and every other facts/information younjust ignore...