Furthering its ‘digital strike’ on China, the Indian government on Wednesday banned 118 China-linked mobile apps, including the popular online gaming app PUBG Mobile, saying these apps were “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity” of the country.
“Government blocks 118 mobile apps which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, Defence of India, Security of State and Public Order,” the Information & Technology Ministry said in the statement.
Apps that have been banned are PUBG, CamCard, Baidu, Cut Cut, Voov, Tencent, Weiyun, Rise of Kingdoms, Zak Zak and many more. This decision has been taken keeping the current situation at LAC in mind.
This strike is surely going to be a major loss of the Chinese government as they will end up losing millions of dollars due to this strike. About 50 million Indians downloaded such apps in the past and promoted these applications.
After banning major Chinese apps, including TikTok, UC Browser, the Centre has blocked Baidu Search and Weibo apps – the most influential apps of China and dubbed as the country’s answer to Google search and Twitter respectively, in India.
Sources told TOI that the two apps, which are among the flagship internet products of China, have been asked to be taken off from the app stores of Google and Apple, while internet service providers (IPSs) have also been told to block them.
“They are among the 47 new apps that the government had banned on July 27,” an official source said, adding that the government is also considering a decision to block more apps.
The first decision to ban 59 key Chinese apps such as TikTok, UC Browser, Helo, Likee, Shareit, Mi Community, WeChat and CamScanner were banned on June 29 for “engaging in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and defence of India.
Moreover, this strike is an answer to what the Chinese have been doing at the border with India for the last 2 months.
