TikTok to SHAREit, Government of India bans 59 Chinese apps
What's the story
Amid heightened tensions along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), the Government of India has taken the decision to ban 59 Chinese smartphone apps with immediate effect. The action comes over a week after Indian intelligence red-flagged dozens of apps as 'unsafe', and affects several popular applications in the country, including TikTok and SHAREit. Here's the full list of the banned apps.
Reason
Apps prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India
The government, according to a report from ANI, announced the decision to ban the Chinese apps, citing them as "prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of state and public order". Previously, many of these apps were suggested as unsafe over safety concerns and the fact they sent a lot of user data to servers outside India.
Apps
Which are the apps in question?
In the social and communication segment, the apps banned by the Indian government are popular ByteDance-owned video sharing service TikTok, Likee, Helo, VMate, Mi Video call-Xiaomi, Vigo Video, Kwai, Bigo Live, Weibo, WeChat, Viva Video - QU Video Inc, We Meet, and Xiaomi's Mi Community. Meanwhile, the online shopping apps to be affected are Club Factory, SHEIN, and ROMWE.
Other apps
Other apps included those for file-sharing, accessing news, more
Among others, the list of apps includes services for things like gaming, sharing files, mailing, and accessing news. They include Mail Master, Parallel Space, QQ Mail, QQ NewsFeed, WeSync, SelfieCity, Clash of Kings, QQ Launcher, QQ Security Center, QQ Player, QQ Music, Wonder Camera, ES File Explorer, QQ International, CacheClear DU Apps Studio, Baidu Translate, Baidu Map, DU Cleaner, DU Privacy, and Clean Master- Cheetah Mobile.
More apps
And, some more!
The list also includes Vault-Hide, SHAREit, UC News, UC Browser, BeautyPlus, Xender, NewsDog, Photo Wonder, Cam Scanner, APUS Browser, CM Browser, Virus Cleaner (Hi Security Lab), DU recorder, YouCam Makeup, DU Battery Saver, Meitu, New Video Status, HAGO- Play With New Friends, Sweet Selfie, U Video, V Fly Status Video, Mobile Legends, and DU Privacy.