Indian govt bans 47 more Chinese apps, PUBG Mobile under scanner too

The Centre has banned 47 apps which were variants and cloned copies of the 59 Chinese apps that were banned last month.

Though Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology did not officially release the latest list of apps which have been banned, sources in the Ministry said the list includes Tiktok Lite, Helo Lite, SHAREit Lite, BIGO LIVE Lite and VFY Lite.

Read more | Govt of India bans TikTok, ShareIt, Mi video call and 56 other Chinese apps [full list]

The order on banning latest set of mobile applications has been issued by the Ministry on Friday.

The apps were banned citing threat to national security and violation of privacy. The government had bannd 59 Chinese apps on June 29, saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country.

List of 275 Chinese apps prepared :

Separately, the Ministry has also prepared a list of another set of 275 Chinese linked apps and are examining whether these mobile applications have violated privacy norms and pose a threat to national security.

The list include AliExpress, Resso ULike, Zili and popular gaming app PUBG.

Though officials in the Ministry refused to talk details on these apps, they said they are studying in details and following all procedure to check whether these apps violated privacy of Indian users and pose any threat to national security.

Earlier, while addressing G20 Digital Economy Minister meeting, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad took a jibe at China by saying digital platforms need to be responsive, accountable, and sensitive to the concerns of sovereign nations as far as safety, defence and privacy are concerned.

"Data must belong to the sovereign nation concerned to protect the privacy and digital concerns of its people," the Minister said without naming China in his speech.

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