‘Threat to Sovereignty’: 118 Chinese Apps Including PUBG Banned

 

The Ministry of Information & Technology on Wednesday, 2 September, banned 118 Chinese mobile apps including ‘PUBG’ in India, a press release by the ministry notified.

The government blocked 118 mobile apps which it said are “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, Defence of India, Security of State and Public Order.”

The banned apps include PUBG MOBILE Nordic Map: Livik, PUBG MOBILE LITE, WeChat Work and WeChat Reading among others.

“The Ministry of Electronics and 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 unauthorised manner to services which have locations outside India. The compilation of these 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 manner of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures,” the press release by the ministry said.

Here is the full list of apps banned:

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With many of these apps accused of collecting sensitive user data and even spying, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology on 29 June had banned 59 apps including TikTok, ShareIt, and UC Browser, which had a huge subscriber base in India.

The ban on these apps comes amid India-China border tensions over the situation in Ladakh.