New Delhi [India], June 30 (ANI): Amid border tensions with China in Eastern Ladakh, the government on Monday banned 59 mobile apps including Tik Tok, UC Browser and other Chinese apps “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity and defence” of the country.
Almost all the apps banned have some preferential Chinese interest and the majority have parent Chinese companies.
The Ministry of Information Technology said in a release that it has decided to block 59 apps in view of the information available that “they are engaged in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order”.
Law, Electronics and Information Technology Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad said that government has banned apps for safety, security, defence, sovereignty and integrity of India.
“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!,” he said in a tweet.
A senior official at the IT ministry said the prime reason to block the apps under section 69 A of Information Technology Act is to stop the violation and threat to the security of the state and public order and to plug the data leaks.
“Almost all of them have some preferential Chinese interest. Few are from countries like Singapore. However, the majority have parent companies which are Chinese,” the official said.
The release said that 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 which 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. At the same time, there have been raging concerns on aspects relating to data security and safeguarding the privacy of 130 crore Indians,” said the release.
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs also sent an exhaustive recommendation for blocking these malicious apps, the release said.
This Ministry also received many representations raising concerns from citizens regarding the security of data and risk to privacy relating to operation of certain apps.
The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) has also received many representations from citizens regarding the security of data and breach of privacy impacting upon public order issues.
“This move will safeguard the interests of crores of Indian mobile and internet users. This decision is a targeted move to ensure safety and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace” the release said.
The apps which have been banned are:– TikTok, Shareit, Kwai, UC Browser, Baidu map, Shein, Clash of Kings, DU battery saver, Helo, Likee, YouCam makeup, Mi Community, CM Browers, Virus Cleaner, APUS Browser, ROMWE, Club Factory, Newsdog, Beutry Plus, WeChat, UC News, QQ Mail, Weibo, Xender, QQ Music, QQ Newsfeed, Bigo Live, SelfieCity, Mail Master, Parallel Space, Mi Video Call – Xiaomi, WeSync, ES File Explorer, Viva Video – QU Video Inc, Meitu, Vigo Video, New Video Status, DU Recorder, Vault- Hide, Cache Cleaner DU App studio, DU Cleaner, DU Browser and Hago Play With New Friends,
The banned apps also include Cam Scanner, Clean Master – Cheetah Mobile, Wonder Camera, Photo Wonder, QQ Player, We Meet, Sweet Selfie, Baidu Translate, Vmate, QQ International, QQ Security Center, QQ Launcher, U Video, V fly Status Video, Mobile Legends, and DU Privacy
PM Modi quits Weibo, all posts, profile picture removed
New Delhi [India], July 1 (ANI): With the government deciding to disallow 59 Chinese apps in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has decided to quit Chinese microblogging website Sina Weibo, which he had joined a few years ago. On Wednesday the prime minister’s account went blank after his profile photo, posts and comments were removed from the handle.
The Twitter-like account Weibo, the largest Chinese microblogging site, has a more complex procedure to quit for VIP accounts, which is why the official process was initiated. For reasons best known to the Chinese, there was a great delay in granting this basic permission.
Prime Minister Modi had 115 posts on Weibo. It was decided to manually delete them and after much effort 113 posts were removed.
The two posts left were posts where the Prime Minister has photos with President Xi Jinping.
On Weibo, it is difficult to remove posts with the photo of their President which is why two posts still remained. Now, all the posts have gone.
Presently, the Prime Minister’s follower count stands at 244,000- which was roughly the same when the deletion of posts began.
Amid border tensions with China in Eastern Ladakh, the Government of India on Monday banned 59 mobile apps including Tik Tok, UC Browser and other Chinese apps “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity and defence” of the country.
The Ministry of Information Technology said in a release that it has decided to block 59 apps in view of the information available that “they are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order”.
Minister for Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the government has banned apps for “safety, security, defence, sovereignty and integrity of India”. (ANI)
Can we come up with good apps made by Indians? : RS Prasad
New Delhi [India], July 1 (ANI): Union Minister for Communications, Electronics and IT, Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the recent ban on 59 mobile apps including Tik Tok, UC Browser and other Chinese apps is a “great opportunity” for Indians to come up with their own apps.
“In the wake of the ban which we have imposed…I think it is a great opportunity. Can we come up with good apps made by Indians? Let the dependence on foreign apps, with their own agenda for a variety of reasons, stop,” Prasad said.
It is India’s first serious signal, huge step to make China accountable: Tibetan Youth Congress on banning of Chinese apps
Dharamshala (Himachal Pradesh) [India], June 30 (ANI): Tibetan activists and leaders living in exile in Dharamshala appreciated New Delhi’s decision to ban 59 Chinese based mobile apps saying the development is a huge step to make Beijing accountable for its real expansionist design.
“We, the Tibetan Youth Congress, have been organising sessions on boycotting Chinese products for the last 20 years. Earlier, we were not getting support from Indian masses, now India has realized expansionist China’s real design and now we are getting huge support,” said Gonpo Dhonup, president of the Tibetan Youth Congress. “Banning of Chinese apps is a huge step to make China accountable,” he added.
“India has strength , it has now realized there is no future for friendship with China , India has realized that friendship with China was delusional , China has always looked India down,” said independent Tibetan writer and activist Tenzin Tsundue.
He also stressed that India must denounce one China policy which is lopsided, flawed and archaic. “India must support the independence of Tibet. It would also be in India’s security interest,” Tsundue said.
The Tibetan Youth Congress also suggested that China has been troubling India on the Kashmir issue and instigating Nepal against it, and therefore, India also must stand with Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tibet. (ANI)
