Indians will not be able to use Chinese apps like Viva Video Editor, Sweet Selfie HD and more. Know here why the Government is banning Chinese apps for India.
The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) has announced that the government of India will be banning 54 Chinese apps concerning cyber security.
According to the statement released by MeitY early on February 14, "These 54 apps allegedly obtain various critical permissions and collects sensitive user data. These collected real-time data are being misused and transmitted to servers located in hostile country,"
As per the sources, the list of 54 Chinese apps that are to be banned in India includes,
Sweet Selfie HD, Beauty Camera - Selfie Camera, Equaliser and Bass Booster, CamCard for SalesForce Ent., Garena Free Fire - Illuminate, Viva Video Editor, Tencent Xriver, Onmyoji Arena, Onmyoji Chess, AppLock, Isoland: Ashes of time Lite, and Dual Space Lite.
Govt of India to ban 54 Chinese apps that pose a threat to India’s security: Sources
— ANI (@ANI) February 14, 2022
Last year in June, the ministry had banned 59 Chinese apps including, PUBG Mobile, AliExpress, TikTok, WeChat, followed by another ban on 118 Chinese apps in September 2020 and 43 more apps in November 2020. According to MeitY, These apps collecting user data was prejudicial, therefore, a ban can protect the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state and public order.
India started banning the Chinese apps after border tensions escalated with China in May 2020, when the country was under lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The activities on the banned Chinese apps indicated a threat to national security as it accessed location and other sensitive data on users mobile phones.
The complete list of Chinese apps to be banned will be released by the ministry in an official announcement anytime soon.
