The Government of India on Monday banned 59 applications, most of them popular Chinese applications such as TikTok, Shareit, Mi Video Call, Club Factory and Cam Scanner, citing threat to national security and sovereignty.
The ban comes amid continuing tensions on the border between India and China and covers a variety of applications from e-commerce to gaming, social media, browsers, instant messaging and file sharing.
Order to Google, Apple
“Upon receiving recent credible inputs that such apps pose threat to sovereignty and integrity of India, the Government of India has decided to disallow the usage ... both [on] mobile and non-mobile Internet-enabled devices,” the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) said in statement.
According to sources, Meity has issued instructions to Google and Apple to remove the banned applications from their respective application stores. Additionally, telecom operators and Internet service providers will be asked to block access and use of these applications on their networks.
Data | Is an economic boycott of China feasible for India?
The Ministry said it was invoking 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, 2009.
“... in view of the emergent nature of threats, [the government] has decided to block 59 apps ... in view of information available [that] they are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order,” the government said.
Pointing out that there has been “a strong chorus” in the public space to take strict action against such applications, Meity said that besides citizens, it received exhaustive recommendation for blocking these malicious apps from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The IT Ministry said it received many complaints, including misuse of mobile apps for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorised manner to servers which have locations outside India. “The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures,” it said.
Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst and CEO at Greyhound Research, said the ban was easy to implement. “The government just needs to send clear instructions to operators, Internet service providers and the application stores i.e Google’s Play store and Apple’s App Store,” he said, adding that of the entire list, TikTok, Mi Video Call and Cam Scanner were the three most critical apps that people use in India.
The move, he added, effectively gave China a taste of its own medicine as the country had permanently banned applications such as Facebook and Google.
Some of the well-known applications in the banned list include TikTok, Shareit, Mi Video Call, Club Factory, UC Browser, Shein, Clash of Kings, Helo, Mi Community, WeChat, Cam Scanner, Clean Master – Cheetah Mobile, Baidu Translate, Mobile Legends.
Full list of apps
1.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 Browers
14.Virus Cleaner
15.APUS Browser
16.ROMWE
17.Club Factory
18.Newsdog
19.Beutry Plus
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 – Xiaomi
32.WeSync
33.ES File Explorer
34.Viva Video – QU Video Inc
35.Meitu
36.Vigo Video
37.New Video Status
38.DU Recorder
39.Vault- Hide
40.Cache Cleaner DU App studio
41.DU Cleaner
42.DU Browser
43.Hago Play With New Friends
44.Cam Scanner
45.Clean Master – Cheetah Mobile
46.Wonder Camera
47.Photo Wonder
48.QQ Player
49.We Meet
50.Sweet Selfie
51.Baidu Translate
52.Vmate
53.QQ International
54.QQ Security Center
55.QQ Launcher
56.U Video
57.V fly Status Video
58.Mobile Legends
59.DU Privacy
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/govt-bans-59-apps-including-tiktok-wechat/article31947445.ece
=========
-what is your view on this step taken by indian govt?
-does it hurt chinese digital economy?
-Pros and cons for india(android/iphone users) after the ban?
-is the step really taken because of security issues or???
The ban comes amid continuing tensions on the border between India and China and covers a variety of applications from e-commerce to gaming, social media, browsers, instant messaging and file sharing.
Order to Google, Apple
“Upon receiving recent credible inputs that such apps pose threat to sovereignty and integrity of India, the Government of India has decided to disallow the usage ... both [on] mobile and non-mobile Internet-enabled devices,” the Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) said in statement.
According to sources, Meity has issued instructions to Google and Apple to remove the banned applications from their respective application stores. Additionally, telecom operators and Internet service providers will be asked to block access and use of these applications on their networks.
Data | Is an economic boycott of China feasible for India?
The Ministry said it was invoking 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, 2009.
“... in view of the emergent nature of threats, [the government] has decided to block 59 apps ... in view of information available [that] they are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order,” the government said.
Pointing out that there has been “a strong chorus” in the public space to take strict action against such applications, Meity said that besides citizens, it received exhaustive recommendation for blocking these malicious apps from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre and the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The IT Ministry said it received many complaints, including misuse of mobile apps for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorised manner to servers which have locations outside India. “The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures,” it said.
Sanchit Vir Gogia, chief analyst and CEO at Greyhound Research, said the ban was easy to implement. “The government just needs to send clear instructions to operators, Internet service providers and the application stores i.e Google’s Play store and Apple’s App Store,” he said, adding that of the entire list, TikTok, Mi Video Call and Cam Scanner were the three most critical apps that people use in India.
The move, he added, effectively gave China a taste of its own medicine as the country had permanently banned applications such as Facebook and Google.
Some of the well-known applications in the banned list include TikTok, Shareit, Mi Video Call, Club Factory, UC Browser, Shein, Clash of Kings, Helo, Mi Community, WeChat, Cam Scanner, Clean Master – Cheetah Mobile, Baidu Translate, Mobile Legends.
Full list of apps
1.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 Browers
14.Virus Cleaner
15.APUS Browser
16.ROMWE
17.Club Factory
18.Newsdog
19.Beutry Plus
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 – Xiaomi
32.WeSync
33.ES File Explorer
34.Viva Video – QU Video Inc
35.Meitu
36.Vigo Video
37.New Video Status
38.DU Recorder
39.Vault- Hide
40.Cache Cleaner DU App studio
41.DU Cleaner
42.DU Browser
43.Hago Play With New Friends
44.Cam Scanner
45.Clean Master – Cheetah Mobile
46.Wonder Camera
47.Photo Wonder
48.QQ Player
49.We Meet
50.Sweet Selfie
51.Baidu Translate
52.Vmate
53.QQ International
54.QQ Security Center
55.QQ Launcher
56.U Video
57.V fly Status Video
58.Mobile Legends
59.DU Privacy
https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/govt-bans-59-apps-including-tiktok-wechat/article31947445.ece
=========
-what is your view on this step taken by indian govt?
-does it hurt chinese digital economy?
-Pros and cons for india(android/iphone users) after the ban?
-is the step really taken because of security issues or???
Last edited by a moderator:
" , just look up how things went down last time an outsider force occupied unmanned Indian territory. May be that'll stop you from jumping the gun too early. India are not the ones to surrender territory without putting up a fight. 
