A few days ago, Indian intelligence agencies presented a list of Chinese apps and asked the government to ban them. And now it seems that the government has finally decided to ban the use of 59 Chinese apps, which include popular titles like TikTok, Helo, UC Browser, Shareit, and others.
India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has banned the apps in question, saying there are clear indications that they endanger the integrity, sovereignty and national security of the country.
Here is the complete list of banned apps in India:
- TikTok
- Shareit
- Hello
- UC Browser
- Baidu map
- Shein
- Clash of Kings
- DU battery saver
- Kwai
- Likee
- YouCam makeup
- Mi Community
- CM Browser
- Virus Cleaner
- APUS Browser
- ROMWE
- Club Factory
- Newsdog
- Beauty Plus
- UC News
- QQ Mail
- Xender
- Cache Cleaner DU App studio
- DU Cleaner
- DU Browser
- Let's Play With New Friends
- Cam Scanner
- Clean Master – Cheetah Mobile
- Wonder Camera
- Photo Wonder
- QQ Music
- QQ Newsfeed
- Bigo Live
- SelfieCity
- Mail Master
- Parallel Space
- Mi Video Call – Xiaomi
- WeSync
- ES File Explorer
- Viva Video – QU Video Inc
- Meitu
- Vigo Video
- New Video Status
- DU Recorder
- Vault-Hide
- QQ Player
- We Meet
- Sweet Selfie
- Baidu Translate
- Vmate
- QQ International
- QQ Security Center
- QQ Launcher
- U-Video
- V fly Status Video
- Mobile Legends
- DU Privacy
The reason behind this decision
MeitY reports that the government investigated the apps after receiving numerous complaints from the public sector against some of them, as they were allegedly collecting a large amount of personal data of Indian users. The ban applies to apps on iOS and Android, as well as those that are not limited to smartphones.
Additionally, it was discovered that data collection from these apps was being done in an organized manner and then the collected information was being sent to servers outside India. The government says this move will likely put an end to this kind of data theft by malicious apps.
Of course, taking into account the general anti-Chinese sentiment that has prevailed in India lately, it is very possible that this government decision is based more on this and is the main reason for taking such a drastic move.
