Govt Bans 43 Chinese Mobile Apps for Engaging in 'Activities Prejudicial to India's Sovereignty & Defence'

SlayrAnnon

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posted on 3 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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The apps banned include Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's e-commerce app Aliexpress in a new wave of web sanctions that earlier targeted TikTok and PUBG Mobile among several others.

The central government on Tuesday blocked 43 mobile applications, mostly those with Chinese links, “for engaging in activities prejudicial to India’s sovereignty, integrity, defence, security and public order”. The decision was taken by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.

The ministry issued the order to blocking access to these apps by users in India based on reports received from Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre under the Ministry of Home Affairs.

The apps banned include Alibaba Group Holding Ltd’s e-commerce app Aliexpress in a new wave of web sanctions targeted at China with whom India has engaged in a months-long standoff at eastern Ladakh. The 43 mostly-Chinese origin apps also include a few dating apps.

The Indian government on September 2 had banned 118 apps on national security concerns, including the immensely popular PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) Mobile, Baidu and couple of virtual private networks (VPNs) that allowed access to TikTok that was banned earlier. Other popular banned apps were Baidu Express Edition, ShareSave by Xiaomi, WeChat Work, Tencent Weiyun, Tencent Watchlist, Alipay, GO SMS Pro, ZAKZAK Pro and Live, Smart AppLock and Ludo World-Ludo Superstar, among others

In July, the government barred 47 Chinese apps from operating in the country, which were largely clones of the 59 apps that were banned in June. Those banned in June included TikTok, WeChat, UC Browser and Xiaomi’s Mi Community. Other Chinese apps in the banned list were Club Factory, SHAREit, Likee, Mi Video Call (Xiaomi), Weibo, Baidu, BIGO LIVE and more.

The moves, which Union Minister of Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad earlier described as a “digital strike”, came after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a skirmish with Chinese troops in Galwan Valley in June.

The 43 apps that have been banned now are:

AliSuppliers Mobile App

Alibaba Workbench

AliExpress – Smarter Shopping, Better Living

Alipay Cashier

Lalamove India – Delivery App

Drive with Lalamove India

Snack Video

CamCard – Business Card Reader

CamCard – BCR (Western)

Soul- Follow the soul to find you

Chinese Social – Free Online Dating Video App & Chat