Taiwan Regulators Steps Up Scrutiny of Clubhouse App
Ranamita Chakraborty, Regulation Asia, 23 March 2021
The social media app restricts voice recording without the consent of every speaker in a chat room, which may create a loophole for stock manipulators.
Taiwan’s FSC (Financial Supervisory Commission) is reportedly looking into ways to monitor suspected stock market manipulation on Clubhouse, an exclusive invitation-only social networking app based on audio-chat.
The emergence of the app could pose a challenge to the FSC’s regulations, chairman Thomas Huang said at a meeting of the Legislative Yuan’s Finance Committee last week.
Clubhouse, owned by US-based firm Alpha Exploration, is Taiwan’s most downloaded mobile application. It enables users to open audio-only online chat rooms and discuss issues of their choice or interests such as stocks.
However, the app has previously come under severe criticism for its cybersecurity and data protection loopholes. After registering for the app, users are forced to provide access to their contact list so they can invite their contacts to join the app.
The app’s privacy policy also permits developers to transfer data from a user’s contact list to a wide network of third parties, from contractors to marketing agencies and law enforcement agencies. It is said to be very easy for any of these parties to figure out a Clubhouse user’s profession, interests, religion, politics, race and friends based on data collected by the app.
