Wednesday, July 1, 2020

India bans 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, WeChat

India’s government has banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok and WeChat, calling the apps “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of state and public order.”

According to India’s Ministry of Information Technology stated the ban was due to “many complaints from various sources” about the apps, such as “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers outside India.” Additionally, the Indian government also noted that “the compilation of these data, its mining, and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defense of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures.”

ByteDance, TikTok’s parent company, had told the BBC that they’re “committed to working with the Indian government to demonstrate our dedication to user security and our commitment to the country overall.”

Here’s the complete list of the apps banned: