Government Bans 59 mobile apps which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order

The Ministry of Information Technology, invoking it’s power under section 69A of the Information
Technology Act read with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009 and in view of the emergent nature of threats has decided to block 59 apps ( see Appendix) since in view of information available they are engaged in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order. Over the last few years, India has emerged as a leading innovator when it comes to technological
advancements and a primary market in the digital space.
At the same time, there have been raging concerns on aspects relating to data security and
safeguarding the privacy of 130 crore Indians. It has been noted recently that such concerns also pose a threat to sovereignty and security of our country. 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 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. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs has also sent an exhaustive recommendation for blocking these malicious apps. 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. The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) has also received Press Information Bureau
Government of India

Submit for Fact Check many representations from citizens regarding security of data and breach of privacy impacting upon public order issues. Likewise, there have been similar bipartisan concerns, flagged by various public representatives, both outside and inside the Parliament of India. There has been a strong chorus in the public space to take strict action against Apps that harm India’s sovereignty as well as the privacy of our citizens.
On the basis of these and upon receiving of recent credible inputs that such Apps pose threat to sovereignty and integrity of India, the Government of India has decided to disallow the usage of certain Apps, used in both mobile and non-mobile Internet enabled devices. These apps are listed in the attached appendix.
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.

In case you don’t know which of the apps installed on your phone are Chinese, here’s a complete list of apps. However, do note that this list consists only of some of the more popular Chinese apps that Indians use. Also, you will not be able to uninstall system apps from Chinese smartphones like Xiaomi, Realme, OnePlus and more.

Here’s a list of popular Chinese apps available on Android and iOS:

TikTok – The app has faced a lot of controversies and it has surfaced the news a lot. This means you most probably know that the app was made by a Chinese developer.

PUBG Mobile – PUBG itself was developed for PC by PUBG Corporation, which is a subsidiary of a Korean game developer, Bluehole. However, the Mobile version of the game was developed by Tencent Games, which is a Chinese developer.

Helo – Helo app came in pre-installed on a lot of smartphones. The application was developed by Bytedance, the same developer who is behind TikTok.

SHAREit, Xender – The popular media sharing applications were also developed in China. You can easily find some alternatives to these apps.

UCBrowser – UCBrowser is one of the most popular web browsers on Android after Google Chrome. The app does offer a plethora of features. However, this too was born in China

Some of the other popular Chinese applications are listed as follows: