India has banned TikTok, a video-sharing social networking service alongside 58 different Chinese mobile apps as “a targeted move to ensure safety and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace.”
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, India has imposed the ban following a first deadly clash among the Indian and the Chinese soldiers in Ladakh in 45 years killing 20 Indian soldiers. The Ministry quotes the apps to be engaged in activities, “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, the security of the state and public order.” It even states numerous 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 defense 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.”
A majority of Indians have been raising calls after the clash to boycott and avoid Chinese products and mobile apps that include the likes of TikTok, Shareit, Likee, and WeChat. OneTouch App Labs even developed the “Remove China Apps” that in no time received above 100k downloads, 24,000 users reviews, and 4.8 stars reviews on the Google Play Store.
This is not the first time TikTok has got into trouble in the country. Even last year, the Indian Government reportedly asked Apple and Google to “block TikTok after a high court in Madras, Southern India, ruled on April 3 that it could expose children to sexual predators, pornographic content and cyberbullying.” However, the court reversed the ruling and permitted Apple and Google to bring back the app for download after nearly 2 weeks in response to TikTok appealing the decision stating that it had cracked down on inappropriate content.
Here’s the list of Chinese mobile apps that got banned in India:
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