India has banned 47 additional Chinese applications (apps) in the country. The latest decision comes after India banned 59 Chinese apps after the deadly clashes in Galwan Valley, Ladakh. Additionally, 250 more Chinese apps are currently under the scanner and could also face a ban including PUBG.
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According to media reports, the 47 banned Chinese apps were operating as clones of the earlier banned apps. The list of the 47 Chinese applications banned by the Indian government will be released soon.
Some of these include TikTok Lite, Helo Lite, ShareIt Lite, Bigo Lite and VFY Lite, all of which are reportedly unavailable on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. According to a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology official, “The apps were found to be operating despite the ban via these versions. They have been taken down from application stores.”
“We have banned 47 mobile apps from China in this ongoing exercise which highlights the government’s seriousness about data privacy and security,” the official, who asked to remain anonymous, told AFP.
India has also prepared a list of over 250 Chinese apps, including apps linked to Alibaba, that it will examine for any user privacy or national security violations, government sources told India Today TV. The list also includes Tencent-backed gaming app PUBG.
Some top gaming Chinese applications are also expected to be banned in the new list that is being drawn up, sources said. The Chinese applications, that are being reviewed, have allegedly been sharing data with the Chinese agencies.
India-China relations have hit rock bottom ever since the conflict in Ladakh began in the first week of July. Disengagement talks appear to have hit a wall with neither side willing to budge on certain issues.
