India bans 43 Chinese apps over national security concerns

The Indian government on Tuesday released a new list of 43 Chinese apps that it has blocked under the IT Act. These apps join pervious list of other apps that were banned by the government over security concerns. The ban comes amid rising tensions between the two countries. 

“Ministry of electronics and information technology has issued the order for blocking the access of these apps by users in India based on the comprehensive reports received from Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs,” the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said in an official statement on Tuesday.

“This action was taken based on the inputs regarding these apps for engaging in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order,” the Centre said in an official statement.

Notable names that have been featured on the list are the e-commerce company AliExpress, Snack Video—which had been gaining popularity after the ban of TikTok—and Alibaba Workbench. Out of the 43 apps that has been banned, 15 are dating apps. 

The government had first banned 59 Chinese apps on 29 June as tension with China peaked following the deaths of 20 Indian soldiers in a clash with Chinese troops in eastern Ladakh’s Galwan Valley.

On 2 September 2020, 118 more apps were banned under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. The earlier banned apps included popular ones like Baidu, Baidu Express Edition, Tencent Watchlist, FaceU, WeChat Reading, Ludo All Star, Alipay and Tencent Weiyun, besides PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite.

As of today, a total of 220 apps stand blocked, including the viral video platform TikTok and the popular mobile shooting game, PUBG.