Major Chinese Apps including TikTok,UC Browser Banned By India

India banned Chinese apps including TikTok,WeChat and UC Browser on Monday amid the rising tensions with China along the Line of Actual Control (LAC).  The Banning of these apps is a strong signal and probably the first major action that hits Chinese business interests in India.  The Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad stated that the banning of these apps is a move to ensure safety, security, defence, sovereignty & integrity of India as well as to protect data and privacy of people of India. Two months ago, India had made it mandatory for foreign Direct investment (FDI) from neighbouring countries to take prior government approval. Now this step which is a huge economic backlash against China after the June 15 clashes at Ladakh in which 20 Indian soldiers were martyred and more than 70 were injured. According to reports, these apps had been violating the terms of usage, compromising users privacy and being used as spyware or malware.

According to the Government, the Ministry of Information Technology has received many complaints from various sources, including several reports about misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing transmitting users data to servers located outside India.So the compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India eventually is a threat to the sovereignty and integrity of India. So due to these reasons, The Indian Government has decided to stop the usage of certain Apps, used in both mobile and non-mobile Internet enabled devices. According to report, a key meeting took place between Home Minister Amit Shah, External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and Commerce Minister Piyush Goyal before the final decision regarding the applications ban was taken.

For safety, security, defence, sovereignty & integrity of India and to protect data & privacy of people of India the Government has banned 59 mobile apps.
Jai Hind! 🇮🇳

— Ravi Shankar Prasad (@rsprasad) June 29, 2020

As far as app development is concerned ,India is no less. In Over the past few years, India has emerged as a leading innovator when it comes to technological advancements and one of the leading markets in the digital space. At the same time, there have been raging concerns on aspects relating to data security and safeguarding the privacy of crores of Indians. The Ministry of Information Technology has received many complaints including various reports about misuse of some mobile apps available on and users data being sent to other country servers. The blocking of these apps has also been recommended by The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs. This Ministry has received requests from many concerned citizens regarding security of data and risk to privacy with the use of these apps. Even the Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) has also received requests from citizens regarding the same. Chinese companies have also invested in many Indian companies from real estate to Ed-Tech and their lost cost products including mobiles and related accessories are also popular in Indian market. It needs to be seen if any steps would be taken or any alternative comes up in the near future. As far as social media is concerned, there are regular trends and demands from people in India to stop Chinese investment in Indian companies as well as boycott Chinese goods throughout the country but the main issue is that China have already invested a lot in many sectors in India and executing even the ban of these apps is a big task right now.

Here’s a brief description of the events leading to the ban-

The major step has come after heightened  tensions along border with China, following the Galwan Valley clash in which 20 Indian soldiers were martyred.

Some  Chinese troops were also killed in the clash but the Chinese have been silent on this matter and exact number has never been told.

The first major clash had taken place between the soldiers of the two armies at Pangong Tso on May 5 in which a large no. of soldiers on both sides were injured. The confrontation has been going on since then and does not seem to end anytime soon.

Recently there has been a nationwide call from traders and civil society to boycott Chinese products and services. The government had earlier sacked of a Chinese firm that had a Rs 471-crore railways contract and now the biggest step has been taken by banning these apps.

The apps like TikTok, WeChat and UC Browser have been threatening Indian sovereignty. TikTok which is a popular video sharing social networking platform is currently the most downloaded mobile app in India, with more than 120 million active users and its popularity had been growing very fast especially after lockdown. The app is run by technology giant ByteDance. Almost one third of TikTok’s downloads came from India, even as India’s share of the app’s revenues and profits is lower than that in the home market of China and the US. On the other hand, UC browser has close 12 crore downloads in India and WeChat is also a very popular messaging app.  In addition, the banned apps include Likee, Shareit and Baidu Map. Likee is owned by Singapore-based BIGO, ShareIt  has close to 11 crore downloads in India according to the latest data and recent usage.

The following applications have been banned by the Centre:

1. TikTok
   2. Shareit
   3. Helo
   4. UC Browser
   5. Baidu map
   6. Shein
   7.Clash of Kings
   8. DU battery saver
   9. Kwai
   10. Likee
   11. YouCam makeup
   12. Mi Community
   13. CM Browers
   14. Virus Cleaner
   15. APUS Browser
   16. ROMWE
   17. Club Factory
   18. Bigo Live
   19. Beutry Plus
   20. WeChat
   21. UC News
   22. QQ Mail
   23. DURecorder
   24. Xender
   25. QQ Music
   26. QQ Newsfeed
   27. Newsdog
   28. SelfieCity
   29. Mail Master
   30. Parallel Spac
   31. Mi Video Call – Xiaomi
   32. WeSync
   33. ES File Explorer
   34. Viva Video – QU Video Inc
   35. Meitu
   36. Vigo Video
   37. New Video Status
   38. Weibo
   39. Vault- Hide
   40. Cache Cleaner DU App studio
   41. DU Cleaner
   42. DU Browser
   43. Hago Play With New Friends
   44. Cam Scanner
   45. Clean Master – Cheetah Mobile
   46. Wonder Camera
   47. Photo Wonder
   48. QQ Player
   49. We Meet
   50. Mobile Legends
   51. Baidu Translate
   52. DU Privacy
   53. QQ International
   54. QQ Security Center
   55. QQ Launcher
   56. U Video
   57. V fly Status Video
   58. Sweet Selfie
   59. Vmate