The Indian government has announced a ban on 59 such Chinese apps, including Tik Tok. The government has decided to disallow the usage of these apps both in mobile and non-mobile Internet-enabled devices.
The press release from the IT ministry states that the Central government has decided to ban Chinese apps diverting data and those with privacy issues.
The IT ministry has banned 59 Chinese-owned applications, including TikTok, ShareIt, UC Browser, Likee, WeChat, and Bigo Live. The Ministry stated they were “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, the security of the state and public order.”
The Minsitry used Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.
In a press release from the Ministry of Electronics and IT, the ministry has raised concerns about the data security and privacy of 130 crore Indians.
The release states-
“It has been noted recently that such concerns also pose a threat to the sovereignty and security of our country. The Ministry of Information Technology has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about the misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers that have locations outside India. The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures.”
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordinate Centre under the Ministry of Home Affairs sent an exhaustive recommendation for blocking these “malicious apps,” the IT ministry. “This Ministry has also received many representations raising concerns from citizens regarding security of data and risk to privacy relating to operation of certain apps.”
In addition, the CERT-IN also has received representations from citizens regarding security of data. Parliamentarians have also flagged the issue, the release said.
