Data Privacy: Indian Government bans over 54 fresh Chinese Apps on Play Store

*The Indian Government, which banned 224 Chinese apps 2020, has issued fresh orders to ban over 54 Chinese apps and block same on the Play Store over an accusation of transferring sensitive data of Indian consumers to servers in foreign countries, including China

Gbenga Kayode | ConsumerConnect

For an alleged threat to data privacy and security of the citizenry, the Indian Government, which banned 224 Chinese apps in three rounds in 2020, again, has issued fresh orders to ban more than 54 Chinese apps.

ConsumerConnect gathered that several of the affected apps belonging to large companies, such as Alibaba and Tencent, and have resurfaced in new avatars.

The union government has issued fresh orders to ban the Chinese apps, terming them a threat to privacy and security of Indians, administration officials reportedly said.

In respect of the new avatars, many of these apps belong to large Chinese tech firms, including Tencent, Alibaba and gaming firm NetEase, and are “rebranded or rechristened avatars” of apps, were banned in the country since 2020.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT has issued the latest ban order on the grounds that these apps were transferring sensitive data of Indians to servers in foreign countries such as China, ETTech report said.

The government It has also directed top app stores including Google’s Play Store to block these applications.

“The 54 apps have already been blocked in India on the Play Store,” an official said.

Meity used its powers under the Section 69a of the Information Technology Act, 2000 to enforce the order.

Since June 2020, the Indian Government has banned a total of around 224 Chinese apps, report stated.

It is recalled the first round of bans covered 59 apps, including popular applications such as TikTok, Shareit, WeChat, Helo, Likee, UC News, Bigo Live, UC Browser, ES File Explorer, and Mi Community.

In November 2020, another 43 Chinese apps were banned, including Snack Video, AliExpress and AliPay Cashier.

Whereas in September of the same year, the government as well banned 118 more apps.