It appears that the troubles of China are not going away anytime soon. While the Chinese government has its hands full with the U.S. troubles, it has to also deal with India now. Earlier this month, there was a clash between the Indian and Chinese governments over border issues. Now, the former has taken this issue to a new level. Today, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has a press release which “bans 59 mobile apps”. It further states that these apps are “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India…”. Interestingly, taking a closer look at these apps, they are all from Chinese companies. Also, some of the 59 Chinese mobile apps are very popular apps
The Indian government cites security and privacy concerns
While citing security and privacy concerns, the Indian government accuses these apps of irregular activities. The official statement also says the government is âinvoking its power under section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009â.
See excerpts of the press release below
“there have been raging concerns on aspects relating to data security and safeguarding the privacy of 130 crore Indians. It has been noted recently that such concerns also pose a threat to sovereignty and security of our country. The Ministry of Information Technology has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting usersâ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India…
Gizchina News of the week
On the basis of these and upon receiving of recent credible inputs that such Apps pose threat to sovereignty and integrity of India, the Government of India has decided to disallow the usage of certain Apps, used in both mobile and non-mobile Internet enabled devices”.
Full list of the 59 Chinese mobile apps
- Â TikTok
2. SHAREit
3. Kwai
4. UC Browser
5. Baidu Map
6. SHEIN
7. Clash of Kings
8. DU Battery saver
9. Helo
10. Likee
11. YouCam Makeup
12. Mi Community
13. CM Browser
14. Virus Cleaner
15. APUS Browser
16. ROMWE
17. Club Factory
18. NewsDog
19. BeautyPlus
20. WeChat
21. UC News
22. QQ Mail
23. Weibo
24. Xender
25. QQ Music
26. QQ Newsfeed
27. Bigo Live
28. SelfieCity
29. Mail Master
30. Parallel Space
31. Mi Video Call â Xiaomi
32. WeSync
33. ES File Explorer
34. Viva Video â QU Video Inc
35. Meitu
36. Vigo Video
37. New Video Status
38. DU Recorder
39. Vault
40. DU Cache Cleaner
41. DU Cleaner
42. DU Browser
43. HAGO â Play With New Friends
44. CamScanner
45. Clean Master â Cheetah Mobile
46. Wonder Camera
47. Photo Wonder
48. QQ Player
49. WeMeet
50. Sweet Selfie
51. Baidu Translate
52. Vmate
53. QQ International
54. QQ Security Center
55. QQ Launcher
56. UV Video
57. VFly-Status Videos, Status Maker, New Video Status
58. Mobile Legends
59. DU Privacy Vault