Modi govt bans 47 Chinese apps, more names under scanner

India has banned 47 more Chinese applications. Government sources said that these 47 apps were operating as clones of the earlier banned Chinese apps. These banned clones include Tiktok Lite, Helo Lite, SHAREit Lite, BIGO LIVE Lite and VFY Lite, a report filed by ANI said.

Sources further said that the government is closely looking at other Chinese apps too and more names could soon be included in the ban list.

This decision follows the Modi government’s 29 June move to ban 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, in the wake of the violent LAC face-off with China in eastern Ladakh. The government said these apps were engaged in activities that were prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and defence of India.

A government press release announcing the ban then said: “The Ministry of Information Technology, invoking it’s 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 and in view of the emergent nature of threats has decided to block 59 apps since in view of information available they are engaged in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.”

 A day later, Google informed that it has removed all the banned applications from the Play Store.

China reacted strongly to the decision. Its Foreign Ministry said that the country is “strongly concerned regarding the decision of the Indian government”. ANI also quoted Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Zhao Lijian as saying: “China is strongly concerned, verifying the situation… We want to stress that the Chinese government always asks Chinese businesses to abide by international and local lawsregulations. The Indian government has a responsibility to uphold the legal rights of international investors including Chinese ones.”