Indian government bans 59 Chinese mobile apps – see full list here

It appears that the troubles of China are not going away anytime soon. While the Chinese government has its hands full with the U.S. troubles, it has to also deal with India now. Earlier this month, there was a clash between the Indian and Chinese governments over border issues. Now, the former has taken this issue to a new level. Today, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has a press release which  “bans 59 mobile apps”. It further states that these apps are “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India…”. Interestingly, taking a closer look at these apps, they are all from Chinese companies. Also, some of the 59 Chinese mobile apps are very popular apps

The Indian government cites security and privacy concerns

While citing security and privacy concerns, the Indian government accuses these apps of irregular activities. The official statement also says the government is “invoking its 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”.

See excerpts of the press release below

“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…

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”.

Full list of the 59 Chinese mobile apps

1.  TikTok
   2. SHAREit
   3. Kwai
   4. UC Browser
   5. Baidu Map
   6. SHEIN
   7. Clash of Kings
   8. DU Battery saver
   9. Helo
   10. Likee
   11. YouCam Makeup
   12. Mi Community
   13. CM Browser
   14. Virus Cleaner
   15. APUS Browser
   16. ROMWE
   17. Club Factory
   18. NewsDog
   19. BeautyPlus
   20. WeChat
   21. UC News
   22. QQ Mail
   23. Weibo
   24. Xender
   25. QQ Music
   26. QQ Newsfeed
   27. Bigo Live
   28. SelfieCity
   29. Mail Master
   30. Parallel Space
   31. Mi Video Call – Xiaomi
   32. WeSync
   33. ES File Explorer
   34. Viva Video – QU Video Inc
   35. Meitu
   36. Vigo Video
   37. New Video Status
   38. DU Recorder
   39. Vault
   40. DU Cache Cleaner
   41. DU Cleaner
   42. DU Browser
   43. HAGO – Play With New Friends
   44. CamScanner
   45. Clean Master – Cheetah Mobile
   46. Wonder Camera
   47. Photo Wonder
   48. QQ Player
   49. WeMeet
   50. Sweet Selfie
   51. Baidu Translate
   52. Vmate
   53. QQ International
   54. QQ Security Center
   55. QQ Launcher
   56. UV Video
   57. VFly-Status Videos, Status Maker, New Video Status
   58. Mobile Legends
   59. DU Privacy Vault