India banned 59 Chinese apps including your favorites TikTok, Helo, WeChat; finally at ease

The Indian and international media is going haywire with the news that India banned 59 Chinese apps.

The list of banned apps also includes Tiktok, Helo, WeChat, etc.

Read this article to find more about this ban and the reasons behind it.

The Indian Government issued an order on Monday banning 59 Chinese apps, including most of the popular Chinese applications such as TikTok, Shareit, Mi Video Call, Club Factory, and Cam Scanner. They cited a threat to national security and sovereignty as the reason behind this step.

This move came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared that India has given a “befitting response” to China. He also talked about the nationwide call for a boycott of Chinese goods, juxtaposing it against the government’s “Atma Nirbhar Bharat” campaign.

His declaration echoed-

“We will buy local and be vocal for local and this will help India become stronger, ”

And now it seems to be reflected in the latest decision.

Let us begin with a look at the list of banned Chinese apps.

India banned 59 Chinese Apps, here is the full list of apps that have been banned:

• 1. TikTok
  2. Share
  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. My Community
  13. CM Browers
  14. Virus Cleaner
  15. APUS Browser
  16. ROMWE
  17. Club Factory
  18. News dog
  19. Beauty 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. sync
  33. ES File Explorer
  34. Viva Video — QU Video Inc
  35. Menu
  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. Vote
  53. QQ International
  54. QQ Security Center
  55. QQ Launcher
  56. U Video
  57. V fly Status Video
  58. Mobile Legends
  59. DU Privacy

This move came amid the rising border tension with China following the June 15 clashes at Ladakh in which 20 Indian soldiers died in action and more than 70 were injured.

The move would come as a blow to Chinese ambitions of creating a Digital Silk Route, by eroding the valuation of the companies. It could likewise lead to more countries following India’s signal and operating against these apps, sources informed.

The govt further started that these applications were engaged in activities that are –

“prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, the security of the state and public order.”

The ban has been placed under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009. The government also referred to complaints about data of Indian users being transferred abroad without confirmation and authorization.

The top officials asserted that the government had considered all factors before making the decision. The source further added –

“These apps have been acting for a long time, and there are certain privacy and security issues with them including risks of personal data going out of the country,”  

Government’s Order to Google,  Apple, and others

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) said in its statement –

“Upon receiving recent credible inputs that such apps pose a 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) released a statement that it acted upon the received complaints from various sources, including several reports about the misuse of some mobile apps for seizing and surreptitiously delivering data of the users in an unauthorized manner to organizations outside India.

Furthermore, a senior Indian government official told that the ban was imposed because the apps might have been used to invade and harm India’s defenses, as well as to send a message to China.

Bringing up the fact that there has been “a strong chorus” in the public space to take strict action against such Chinese apps, Meity said that besides public, it also received an extensive recommendation for blocking these malicious apps from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre and the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The IT Ministry stated that –

“The collection of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national safety and defense of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and unexpected concern which needs emergency measures.”

They further added –

” The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) has also acquired many expressions and concerns from citizens regarding the security of data and breach of privacy impacting upon public order issues.

Likewise, there have been related bipartisan skepticisms, flagged by various public representatives, both outside and inside the Parliament of India.”

In addition, India has alsocanceledd the participation of Chinese companies in government infrastructure projects, tenders floated by state-run companies among its other measures against Chinese economic invasion in the Indian market.

Read also – https://theqna.org/indias-commandos-ready-for-the-martial-arts-trained-army-at-lac/

Reactions to this ban against Chinese Apps –

While many have welcomed this step, many are cautious and even against it. The legal analysts see this as a sound decision as the grounds of national security will help the government to take legal actions.

The market analysts are more concerned as they see it as an opportunity for Indian apps, but they are cautious about the long term impact. Especially, as many Indian apps are either inspired by Chinese apps or use their technology.

Economists further express doubts about the condition of the market as the removal of Chinese apps might cause avoid, and it is yet uncertain what will happen to market competitiveness.

Though Indian rivals of banned apps have celebrated this decision as beneficial for them.

Besides the analysts, there are also other national and international agencies raising voices against the ban on communicational and educational apps.

More interesting is the statement of Chinese media regarding the Indian move to ban 59 Chinese apps –

Shen Shiwei of CGTN news tweeted –

” Is India so fragile that they need to ban 59 Chinese Mobile apps including TikTok in the name of prejudice to sovereignty and integrity?”

“This event will pose a threat to the Indian business environment for foreign investment.”

Only time could tell the result of such step, for now let us wait and watch.