“Cyber-related risks are a global threat of bloodless war. India can work towards giving the world a shield from the threat of cyber warfare.” —PM Narendra Modi in 2015
Recently, the Government of India issued orders for a ban on 118 Chinese apps taking the total number of such Chinese apps to 224. The first ban included the massively popular entertainment app called TikTok owned by Chinese startup ByteDance, which had about 200 million registered users. The second order on 2 September included the popular game PUBG, which had 50 million downloads and 33 million users in India. These bans become relevant in the backdrop of tensions between India and China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC). The first clash took place in Ladakh’s Galwan Valley on 15 June 2020, where 20 Indian security personnel were killed, the number of casualties on Chinese side remains unknown. On 31 August, China made a fresh intrusion attempt in the Pangong Tso area. The second Chinese app ban order appears to be part of a strategic manoeuvre to limit China’s access to data of Indian citizens and also counter its economic might in the digital arena. China has felt the impact of these bans and reacted at a Chinese foreign ministry briefing where spokesperson Hua Chunying said, “The Indian user’s rights and interests are first harmed and, Chinese businesses rights and interests will also be harmed. So, what India has done is not beneficial to anyone.”
REASONS FOR BAN
The Electronics Ministry’s (MeIT) order was issued to ensure safety and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace and to safeguard the interest of crores of Indian mobile and Internet users. The Indian government has reasons to believe that these apps were engaged in activities which are prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity, defence, security and public order of India. The Central government has also been receiving several complaints about these apps which are allegedly stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorised manner. They have also been accused of sending it to servers outside India.
The Ministry of Home affairs’ Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre has also sent an exhaustive recommendation for blocking malicious apps highlighting serious security concerns. CERT-IN (Computer Emergency Response Team) has also been receiving representations from citizens regarding security of data and the breach of privacy impacting public order. These overarching concerns on aspects relating to data security and safeguarding privacy of Indian citizens have led to a decision of banning Chinese apps. The compiling of the data of Indian users, followed by mining and profiling by elements hostile to the national security and defence of India, impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India and is a matter of deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures.
China is a totalitarian state with no democratic checks and balances, nor an unbiased oversight mechanism, let alone an independent judiciary. The Communist Party has officials posted everywhere, from branches of administration to the army and they’re aboard even on navy ships. There are serious apprehensions around the world about the use to which citizen data of other countries would be put to. Other than running Russian style influence and information operations, affecting voter behaviour to cause mass disturbances of public order at the most inopportune times, these apps and the data mined from them can be used for malicious and nefarious purposes.
China feels that the app ban, selectively and discriminatorily, targets Chinese apps on ambiguous and far-fetched grounds and is a potential violation of WTO rules. Strangely the United States has supported India’s ban move. The US Secretary of State stated that India’s ‘clean app approach’ will boost India’s sovereignty, integrity and national security.
LEGAL ASPECTS
China’s nation-scale firewall, colloquially referred to as the ‘Great Firewall of China’, implements many different types of censorship and content filtering to control China’s internet traffic. China accounts for three quarters of the takedown requests between July 2018 and July 2019 and approximately 85% of apps removed from the Apple’s App Store. Non-availability of Google’s Play Store in China does not give any picture about android apps, for which there is a fully developed Chinese ‘store’.
One must not forget Article 7 of the China National Intelligence Law which mandates organisations and citizens to “support, assist and cooperate with the state intelligence work”. These obligations raise serious concerns about Chinese companies being compelled to share personal and strategic Indian data with the Chinese authorities. Therefore, in the absence of transparency about the data-sharing norms under a Chinese law, that requires companies of Chinese origin to share data with that country’s intelligence agencies, irrespective of where they operate, it is imperative to invoke Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 which empowers the Indian government to restrict public access on these apps in the interest of sovereignty, integrity, defence, security of state, friendly relations with foreign states and public order.
BLOCK AND INNOVATE
The Chinese have never allowed foreign companies to dominate their tech space. Not long back, they had blocked Google, Twitter, and Netflix and outsmarted Uber. With government protectionism leading to the exit or banning of internet giants, Chinese technology companies quickly copied and innovated to produce alternatives with a local flavour. Facebook’s Chinese competitor Tencent has challenged it in market capitalisation. Tencent passed the $500-billion mark in the last quarter of 2017, Chinese popular social media platform, WeChat, enables bill payment, hotel bookings, ordering taxis and utilising other amenities from within the chat itself. In fact, Facebook is now playing catch up by trying to incorporate features like payment system inside WhatsApp. Alibaba, Baidu and DJI have also done phenomenally well, turning out to be multibillion dollars ventures. Huawei has surged ahead with its 5G technologies and government support to be perceived as a global threat. India has world-class talent in the IT sector. What has been lacking is a fertile environment with risk taking entrepreneurs having deep pockets and the sheer vision to think big. Perhaps it is time that we think of alternative mechanisms of sustaining the ‘burn rate’ which leads to exponential growth, albeit with huge financial risks. The app ban has created a huge market, it is time to capitalise this opportunity for creating the next unicorn.
OPPORTUNITY FOR INDIAN APP MAKERS TO UP THE GAME
The data collected by the mobile apps raise privacy questions for both developers and users. The most prominent issue in recent times is privacy and privacy rights — something the app developers should imbibe and pay attention to while developing apps. Privacy can be viewed as a subset of security in that it is not typically possible to have privacy without security, but it is certainly possible to have security without privacy. The idea of privacy is impacted by cultural influences and can be defined in a multitude of ways. Globally accepted principles of privacy define it as an ability of a person to control what information pertaining to them can be collected and disclosed, how it can be collected/disclosed, under what conditions it can be collected/disclosed, and whom it can be disclosed to.
The core OECD principles around which core privacy practices center around collection limitation, data quality, purpose specification; use limitation; security safeguards; openness; individual participation and accountability. The existence of a mechanism to hold an organization or its employees accountable for complying with the principles listed above is a sine qua non of a solid privacy regime. Indian data protection law may come into existence anytime, it is imperative for the Indian startups seizing this opportunity by imbibing/incorporating the aforesaid principles. The recent ban on Chinese apps for not abiding by Indian laws should be taken as a warning to be in compliance of security and privacy regulations.
Conclusion
India tightened up its digital borders and asserted sovereignty in the digital space. Tencent, the Chinese company which is behind the banned game PUBG, has lost $34 billion in terms of market value within a day of the Indian government ban order. The entire app economy is going through a massive reset; this vacuum created by the action of Indian government will give an opportunity for local app developers to soon build utility apps. If they are successful in creating viable alternatives and scale up their user base, the gains will be phenomenal. It is time to create a national resolve for excellence and growth, and to give to the world indigenous solutions which are sterling in quality.
Brijesh Singh is author and senior IPS officer. Khushbu Jain is an advocate before the Supreme Court and founding partner of Ark legal.