India bans PUBG along with 117 other Chinese apps as border tensions escalate
- The ministry said it had received many complaints about misuse of some mobile apps for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting user data in an unauthorised manner to servers that have locations outside India
NEW DELHI: The Indian government on Wednesday banned another 118 mobile apps, including PUBG, Ludo, Baidu, among others, saying the move was in the interest of sovereignty and integrity, and security of the nation.
This comes amid fresh tensions between India and China along the LAC in Ladakh.
"... in view of the emergent nature of threats has decided to block 118 mobile apps since in view of information available they are engaged in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order," the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said in a statement.
The apps have been banned under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.
The ministry said it had received several complaints and reports about misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for "stealing and surreptitiously transmitting user data in an unauthorised manner" to servers that have locations outside India.
"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," the statement said.
The move is expected to safeguard the interests of crores of Indian mobile and internet users, the ministry said, adding that the decision will ensure safety, security and sovereignty of the Indian cyberspace.
The development comes two months after the government banned 59 Chinese apps, including Bytedance’s TikTok, Alibaba’s UC Browser, citing security concerns. Post the ban, several clones of these 59 apps as well as similar apps had risen to the top of Google Play rankings. Thereafter, India banned 47 more Chinese apps that were operating as clones of 59 apps banned.
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First Published:2 Sep 2020, 05:51 PM IST
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