The 59 Chinese Apps That India Just Banned (That You Should Consider Deleting Now Too)
The Indian Government has taken the lead against Chinese surveillance through popular mobile applications. On June 29, 2020 the Government of India’s Press Information Bureau posted an official press release disallowing the usage of certain applications in both mobile and non-mobile Internet enabled devices.
“The compilation of the 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,” — Ministry of Information Technology
On the move to hamper the China’s Digital Silk Road, India’s government is fighting to give local start ups a chance to compete. While rumors of viral social media platform TikTok has been accused of surveillance technology for a while, you’ll be surprised to know the rest of the apps on the list:
Right before India’s sudden announcement, tensions were already rising at the disputed Line of Actual Control. The June 15 Galwan Valley Attack was believed to be one of the deadliest clashes between India and China in almost half a century.
This is not the first instance of Chinese technology being questioned for espionage. Many countries have already banned Huawei’s 5G mobile network infrastructure due to possible data privacy concerns.
Only time will tell how long the bans will take place and if other countries will follow suite. While not all countries have banned them yet, maybe it wont hurt for us to delete them first.
