India Bans 188 Apps Amidst Rift with China

India has banned 118 more Chinese-owned applications in alleged privacy risks and data theft threatening the security of Indian cyberspace.

This comes as no fix is seen to the geopolitical tension between India and China along the disputed border of the Ladakh region.

The crisis started when 20 Indian soldiers were killed by Chinese soldiers earlier in June, sparking outrage among the Indian citizens to boycott China-related products and services, including applications

This Wednesday, India banned 118 additional Chinese apps including PUBG mobile, a popular mobile game in which India holds the most player base with 33 million active users and 13 million users per day.

India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said that it received numerous complaints regarding stolen data from these apps.

“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 matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures,” India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said in a press release.

There were also reports that the stolen data was transmitted to unauthorized servers possibly outside India.

India has already banned 59 mobile apps including TikTok, ShareIt, and Tencent’s WeChat earlier this year. (ASC)