Opera GX is a legitimate web browser and does not contain any spyware, malware, or viruses. Still, gamers deserve complete confidence in the software they rely on. If you’re worried about digital safety, keep reading. I’ll explain where this rumor started and prove Opera GX is safe through independent testing.
Why do people think Opera GX is spyware?
In 2016, a group of Chinese investors purchased Opera’s browser businesses. This is the most common justification given online for why Opera GX is bad for privacy, but it’s an overly simplistic take. Opera remains a Norwegian company subject to European data protection laws. There is no credible evidence that it shares usage data with Chinese authorities, and as we’ll see, Opera collects less data than other browsers on the market.
The earliest accusation that Opera is bad for privacy I could find came from a German IT blog in 2021. This was two years after Opera GX launched, and it laid the groundwork for many other complaints encountered in my research. Here’s a breakdown and rebuttal of its main claims:
- Opera has in-app advertising. This is true; featured businesses do show up on the Speed Dial page. Users can turn this feature off by navigating to Settings > Privacy and Security > Receive promotional Speed Dials, bookmarks, and campaigns.
- The browser is constantly sending data to Google. Opera previously used the Google Cloud Messaging service to send push notifications to Android apps. This does not represent continuous activity tracking and was, in fact, common behavior for a cross-platform browser. Even privacy-conscious Firefox used this service!
- Opera tracks every site you visit. This browser checks the domain name, not the full URL, against known malicious websites to protect against phishing and malware. You can disable this by turning off Protect me from malicious sites in the settings menu.
- Opera’s default settings aren’t privacy-friendly. Specifically, the author mentioned using Google as the default search engine, automatically sending crash reports to Opera, and that Private Browsing mode isn’t actually private. There’s nothing unusual about any of this, and most browsers let you know upfront about the limitations of private tabs.
Opera GX: App safety, data collection, and more explained
So far, the case against Opera GX looks pretty shaky. Let’s see if an extensive examination of its software, privacy policy, and applicable data-protection legislation can help shed some light on the situation.
Does Opera GX contain spyware?
Spyware is malware that secretly monitors your activities, so it’s difficult to identify by nature. Thankfully, there are various tools designed for this exact purpose. I began by checking Chrome GX’s setup program and installation folder using Spybot Search & Destroy. The results came back clean but to be thorough, I had to consider whether Spybot may have simply missed something.
My next step was uploading these files to VirusTotal, a service that checks files with dozens of popular malware-scanning tools. Unfortunately, there’s a maximum upload size of 32 MB and Opera’s installation folder, even when compressed, is over 200 MB. Still, I checked the installer and main Opera GX executable, neither of which raised a single alert.
Undeterred, I moved over to Kaspersky’s Threat Intelligence platform and submitted the entire Opera GX folder. Once again, there were no issues.
At this point, we can fairly confidently say that Opera GX does not contain any known spyware. Of course, that doesn’t rule out the company gathering user data in other ways.
What data protection legislation applies to Opera GX?
In its response to the spyware allegations, Opera says it’s based in Norway and abides by Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). Not only that, but it claims to extend GDPR-like protections to users even outside of the European Union. That matters because a key principle of this legislation is transparency – the right to know what your data is used for.
Here’s the short version: Opera has to inform you of exactly what data it collects and why. Breaking any of GDPR’s rules can see companies fined 4 percent of the previous year’s revenue. For context, that’s a fine of up to $24.5 million as per Opera’s 2025 earnings report. That’s a big risk to take if you’re secretly spying on your users, and it’s worth mentioning that to date, Opera has never received a penalty for breaching GDPR.
What kind of information does Opera GX collect?
I’ve scoured Opera’s privacy policy, public statements, and VPN audit reports to find out what data it stores. Here’s everything Opera GX collects and why:
| When you… | Data collected | Purpose | Deleted after |
|---|---|---|---|
| Install Opera | Machine ID, hardware specs, OS, feature usage data | Analyzing which features you use, tracking promotional campaigns, detecting problems | Three years |
| Use Opera | IP address, location, hashed user ID, device info, ads interacted with, categories of site visited | Personalizing ads | One year |
| Crash Opera | Browser version, OS, memory data | Improving products and services | Five months |
| Login with a social media account | Name, profile photo, email address | Allowing you to access certain services | Six months or two years of inactivity, depending on if email was verified |
| Open an Opera account | Email, password | Allowing you to login/reset password | Six months or two years of inactivity, depending on if email was verified |
| Interact with recommended content | Location, what you interacted with | Building a profile of your interests | Three months |
| Use Opera’s free VPN | None | N/A | N/A |
| Use VPN Pro | Opera account details | To provide the service | N/A |
| Use AI Chat | Chat history, prompts, sites visited, tab names | Serving ads, selecting an LLM, and letting you resume chats | 365 days if logged in, 30 days otherwise |
| Use the Cashback program | Purchased items, IP address, transaction amounts | Fraud-detection and shopping recommendations | Two years of inactivity |
| Use GX Cloud | Opera account details, date of birth, payment info | Verifying eligibility, processing payments | Five years |
| Use the My Flow feature | Randomly-generated ID | Enabling cross-device pairing | When My Flow session ends |
Does this count as excessive data collection? While there are certainly more privacy-conscious browsers out there, nothing Opera stores is out of the ordinary. In fact, research shows Chrome and Edge record roughly twice as many unique data types as Opera.
Does Opera GX send data to China?
There is no evidence that Opera has ever secretly sent user data or personal information to China. Opera GX is owned by Beijing Kunlun Tech, but Lenovo, Hisense, and Riot Games are Chinese-owned too and nobody’s worried about them.
China has far-reaching surveillance , and its National Intelligence Law (2017) says that organizations must assist authorities with national security efforts.
Let’s imagine the CCP asks Beijing Kunlin Tech to provide Opera’s user data. The company can try, but there are all kinds of regulatory hurdles in the way to prevent data harvesting. Even if successful, Opera would potentially be breaking GDPR unless it announced its intentions beforehand.
There are a couple of other things to consider too. Firstly, Opera employs nearly 600 people; the odds of nobody speaking out about something like this are quite low. Second, if this was ever revealed, the damage to Opera’s reputation would likely be apocalyptic. It just doesn’t make sense to risk a 700 million dollar company to find out which websites you like best.
Conclusion
Opera does not include any known spyware and has a data-collection policy in line with most other browsers. Without access to internal company data, it’s impossible to say whether Opera GX sends data to the Chinese government. However, I’ve found nothing to suggest it does beyond hyperbole and online speculation. Additionally, the legal, social, and reputational damage that would result from being caught significantly outweigh the benefits.
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I’ve been avoiding Opera GX specifically because of thinking that it’s completely owned by Kunlun Tech, but that was apparently misinformation. Thanks for clarifying this!