India bans 47 more Chinese apps over security concerns; PUBG under scanner too

Guwahati: Amid rising tensions with China over border skirmishes over disputed territory, the Indian Government has decided to ban 47 more Chinese-made mobile apps in the country.

This comes after the Government's announcement banning 47 apps on the grounds of "national security and data privacy. Now, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is adding more apps to the list. According to an order issued on Friday, July 24, the ban will be extended to 47 Chinese apps that are clones of the previously banned 57 apps.

The new list of banned apps is likely to include 'lite' versions of the apps that have already been banned on June 29. 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. "The apps were found to be operating despite the ban via these versions. They have been taken down from application stores", said a Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology official.

Meanwhile, there have been reports that the Government has listed a further 250 apps that shall be examined for any user privacy or national security violations. These include the likes of Alibaba, PUBG, Tencent games, and others, it has been reported in media.

It may be recalled that the Government of India last month banned 59 Chinese-made apps that it said "were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity, and security of the country". The ban on the apps came in light of India and China's Galwan Valley clash where as many as 20 Indian army jawans were killed after a melee battle with Chinese forces. Casualties were also reported on the other side. The list included popular short video service TikTok, browser and content app UC Browser, file sharing service Shareit, women-specific fashion shopping app Shein, popular mobile game Clash of Kings, among others.

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