Why is India banning Chinese Apps?

After imposing a ban on 59 Chinese mobile apps in India on June 29, 2020, the Government of India has further blocked 47 clones of Chinese apps that were banned earlier, as per Press Trust of India. The government has cited national sovereignty and data security concerns while banning the 59 Chinese apps earlier in June including Tiktok, SHAREit, UC Browser, Helo, WeChat. 

In a press release in June 2020, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) stated that it received multiple complaints from various sources as well as reports have also emerged about the misuse of users' data in an unauthorized manner to the servers located outside India by the mobile applications available on both Android and iOS platforms. Thus, to safeguard the data of 130 crore Indians, 59 apps were banned in the country. 

The Ministry stated that it invoked powers under Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act to safeguard the sovereignty and integrity of India with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology Rules 2009-- Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public. 

The Government of India further asked the Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to bar access to the 59 mobile apps. This means that even if the apps are installed on the phone, the users won't be able to access the app. Also, the apps which were blocked by the government were removed from India's Google Play Store and App Store. 

As cited by several reports, the move to ban the Chinese apps was a retaliatory step amid the standoff between India and China in the Galwan Valley. However, Union Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad stated that the digital strike was done in the interest of the nation and its people. 

Prior to this, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs has also recommended blocking several apps in the country after it received several complaints and rising concerns from the citizens over the data security and threat to privacy while using certain apps. 

In April this year, the Cyber Coordination Centre (CyCord), Ministry of Home Affairs, in its 16-page advisory, issued a warning that the Zoom App has many weak points and is vulnerable to cyber-attacks, which may lead to the leakage of the sensitive information to the criminals. In view of this, the Ministry of Home Affairs issued certain guidelines for the people who still wish to use the Zoom App. 

In addition to the above, 275 Chinese Apps list has been drawn by the government to examine any threat to national security and users' privacy. As per reports, the list includes popular apps like PubG, Tencent, Xiaomi, AliExpress, etc.