The Indian Government on Wednesday has banned 118 mobile applications, including one of the most popular gaming app PUBG citing activities that were “prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity, public order and Defence of India.” This move comes amid the fresh incursion by China in Eastern Ladakh. Both the countries are facing tensions since May.
Earlier, on June 29 this year, the government had banned 59 China-based mobile applications, including the popular video app, TikTok. The government decided by invoking section 69 A of the Information and Technology Act to safeguard “the sovereignty, integrity, defense of India, and public order.”
PUBG is one of the most popular gaming applications among Indians, recording 33 million active players. It clocks 13 million users daily. Besides PUBG, the government has banned 117 other applications, and most of them are China-based. The blocked mobile apps include browsing, e-commerce, gaming, social media, and other apps such as Baidu, We Chat work, Ludo World-Ludo Superstar, Gallery HD, Cleaner, and so on.
There were numerous complaints from different sources, citing the misappropriate usage of some mobile applications available on Android and iOS platforms. “The complaints alleged stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which possibly had locations outside India,” the ministry said.
“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 and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures,” reads the statement released by the government.
The statement further mentioned that “this move will also safeguard the interests of crores of Indian mobile and internet users. The decision is a targeted one meant to ensure safety, security, and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace.”
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Tap to read the press release by the government. Read the list of blocked 118 mobile applications.