India on Wednesday banned the mobile gaming app PUBG, Chinese app Blocked and with this more than 100 mobile applications also blocked. The apps were banned citing concerns of data security after fresh tensions between India and China in the border area in eastern Ladakh.
A total of 118 apps have been banned by the ministry of information and technology, according to an official statement. The banned mobile applications are prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity, defence of India and public order, the ministry said. The move was in the interest of India's sovereignty and integrity, defence and security, the government said in a statement.
The banned apps include Baidu, Baidu Express Edition, Tencent Watchlist, FaceU, WeChat Reading and Tencent Weiyun, besides PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite, the statement states.
This action has taken, after the ministry of electronics and information technology received several complaints from various sources, including reports about misuse of some mobile apps available on the Android and iOS platforms.
There has been a strong demand for some time to take strict action against mobile applications that harm India’s sovereignty as well as the privacy of citizens. The complaints alleged stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which possibly had locations outside India.
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