Govt to ban 54 Chinese apps posing threat to national security, say sources

NEW DELHI: The Government of India is likely to issue a fresh order imposing a ban on 54 Chinese apps, which pose a big threat to the country’s security, highly placed sources said on Monday.

According to news agency ANI, which cited sources, the government believes that these 54 Chinese apps pose a ''threat to the privacy and security of Indians.''

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) will formally issue a notification banning the operations of these apps in India, the sources said. The apps against whom the adverse security inputs were generated include Sweet Selfie HD, Beauty Camera, Music Player, Music Plus, Volume Booster, Video Players Media all formats, Viva Video Editor, Nice Video Baidu, AppLock and Astracraft, among others, the sources said.

Most of these apps belong to major Chinese technology firms such as Tencent, Alibaba and gaming firm NetEase. All of these Chinese technology firms have either “rebranded or rechristened” those apps that were banned by the Centre in 2020.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeITY), which had earlier banned the Chinese apps in 2000, has directed the Google Playstore to block these applications, the sources said. 

The MeITY, through the powers vested in it by Section 69a of the Information Technology Act, 2000, has taken necessary steps in this regard, they added.

It may be recalled that the Centre has banned around 224 Chinese apps starting with about 59 apps in the first round, including popular applications like TikTok, Shareit, WeChat, Helo, Likee, UC News, Bigo Live, UC Browser, ES File Explorer, and Mi Community, since June 2020.

The government took the action against the Chinese firms in the backdrop of its ongoing stand-off along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh with China. The stand-off has been going on since April 2020. India shares a 3,400 km-long LAC with China from Ladakh to Arunachal Pradesh.