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The Indian government has banned today 59 Chinese mobile applications on the grounds of national security, according to a government mandate seen by ZDNet.
The ban comes after the Indian military clashed with Chinese forces in the region of Ladakh, in northern India, on June 15, this year. The clashes resulted in at least 20 Indian soldier deaths, and more than 75 injured.
The New Delhi government argues that the 59 apps have been used to collect data on Indian users, data that has been sent back to servers in China.
Indian officials said they believe the data has been mined and used to profile Indian users by “elements hostile to [the] national security and defence of India.”
The Indian Ministry of Information Technology, who authorized the ban today, said it received an “exhaustive recommendation” to ban the 59 Chinese apps from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre at the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Furthermore, the ministry also said India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) has also received complaints from users about the privacy and security of the banned apps.
It is currently unclear how the Indian government will proceed with the ban at a technical level. The apps are still available on app stores, and they are still working inside the country, at the time of writing. It is unclear if the New Delhi government will ask app stores to remove the apps from their locale Indian stores, or if the government will use local ISPs to block the app’s domains.
National-level app bans are usually incredibly hard to enforce. Russia has recently “formally” unbanned the Telegram app after a two-year ban, albeit, the app has never stopped working inside the country, with the Telegram team always finding new ways to bypass the Kremlin’s ISP-level ban.
The full list of Chinese apps the Indian government banned today is below and includes:
1. TikTok2. Shareit3. Kwai4. UC Browser5. Baidu map6. Shein7. Clash of Kings8. DU battery saver9. Helo10. Likee11. YouCam makeup12. Mi Community13. CM Browers14. Virus Cleaner15. APUS Browser16. ROMWE17. Club Factory18. Newsdog19. Beutry Plus20. WeChat21. UC News22. QQ Mail23. Weibo24. Xender25. QQ Music26. QQ Newsfeed27. Bigo Live28. SelfieCity29. Mail Master30. Parallel Space31. Mi Video Call – Xiaomi32. WeSync33. ES File Explorer34. Viva Video – QU Video Inc35. Meitu36. Vigo Video37. New Video Status38. DU Recorder39. Vault- Hide40. Cache Cleaner DU App studio41. DU Cleaner42. DU Browser43. Hago Play With New Friends44. Cam Scanner45. Clean Master – Cheetah Mobile46. Wonder Camera47. Photo Wonder48. QQ Player49. We Meet50. Sweet Selfie51. Baidu Translate52. Vmate53. QQ International54. QQ Security Center55. QQ Launcher56. U Video57. V fly Status Video58. Mobile Legends59. DU Privacy
