In a move that further heightened the border dispute between China and India, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology banned 54 apps citing a ‘threat to national security’.
The list includes Beauty Camera: Sweet Selfie HD, Equalizer & Bass Booster, Isoland 2: Ashes of Time Lite, Viva Video Editor, Tencent Xriver, Dual Space Lite and Sea Limited’s Free Fire Illuminate.
In June 2020, the Indian government had banned 59 popular Chinese apps such as Tiktok and WeChat as a retaliation to the Galwan Valley skirmish that took the lives of numerous soldiers.
In September, the authorities further banned 118 apps, including trending video game PUBG Mobile. In November, another 43 applications followed, such as Alibaba’s AliExpress. As an extension of the ban, the recent 2022 notification comes after similar reports of data collection observed by intelligence agencies in these applications.
Most of the 54 apps are owned by Chinese tech giants such as Tencent, Alibaba and NetEase. According to the sources familiar with the matter, these applications are re-branded versions of apps which were banned in 2020.
A concept akin to PUBG, Free Fire is a battle royale shooter game that became popular after the former was banned on the Indian subcontinent. With more than a billion downloads on Google Play, Garena Free Fire is the highest grossing mobile game in India in the third quarter of 2021.
Its developer; Singapore-based Sea is one of Southeast Asia’s most valuable companies, with its expansion into markets from Brazil to India. Sea’s largest investor is Tencent, which has an 18.7% stake. Sea’s shares fell greater than 9% in pre-market trading in New York, post the emergence of the new order.
Published By – Vanshu Mehra
Edited By – Krititka Kashyap
