India on Monday banned 54 more Chinese mobile and computer applications or apps that allegedly pose threats to the country’s national security, media reports said. With this, India has banned 321 apps to reflect the deteriorating relationship between India and China since the Galwan Valley clash in eastern Ladakh, which occurred in June 2020 and killed at least 20 Indian soldiers.
In the latest step, the India ban on Chinese apps including Free Fire, AppLock, Beauty Camera: Sweet Selfie HD, Beauty Camera – Selfie Camera, Equalizer & Bass Booster, CamCard for SalesForce Ent, Isoland 2: Ashes of Time Lite, Viva Video Editor, Tencent Xriver, Onmyoji Chess, Onmyoji Arena, AppLock, and Dual Space Lite. The popular battle royale game Free Fire by Garena is arguably the most popular in this new batch of banned apps, with over 184,700 ratings on App Store and over 105,501,450 on Google Play.
Full list of banned apps:
AppLock
APUS Security HD (Pad Version)
Astracraft
Badlanders
Barcode Scanner – QR Code Scan
Beauty Camera – Selfie Camera
Beauty Camera: Sweet Selfie HD
CamCard for SalesForce Ent
Conquer Online
Conquer Online – MMORPG Game
CuteU Pro
CuteU: Match With The World
Dual Space – 32Bit Support
Dual Space – 64Bit Support
Dual Space Lite – Multiple Accounts & Clone App
Dual Space Pro – 32Bit Support
Dual Space Pro – Multiple Accounts & App Cloner
DualSpace Lite – 32Bit Support
Equalizer – Bass Booster & Volume EQ & Virtualizer
Equalizer & Bass Booster – Music Volume EQ
Equalizer Pro – Volume Booster & Bass Booster
EVE Echoes
Extraordinary Ones
FancyU – Video Chat & Meetup
FancyU pro – Instant Meetup through Video chat!
FunChat Meet People Around You
Garena Free Fire – Illuminate
Isoland 2: Ashes of Time Lite
Lica Cam – selfie camera app
Live Weather & Radar – Alerts
MoonChat: Enjoy Video Chats
MP3 Cutter – Ringtone Maker & Audio Cutter
Music Player – Equalizer & MP3
Music Player – MP3 Player
Music Player – Music, MP3 Player
Music Plus – MP3 Player
Nice video baidu
Notes – Color Notepad, Notebook
Onmyoji Arena
Onmyoji Chess
Parallel Space Lite 32 Support
RealU Lite -video to live!
RealU: Go Live, Make Friends
Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade
SmallWorld-Enjoy groupchat and video chat
Stick Fight: The Game Mobile
Tencent Xriver
Twilight Pioneers
UU Game Booster-network solution for high ping
Video Player Media All Format
Viva Video Editor – Snack Video Maker with Music
Voice Recorder & Voice Changer
Volume Booster – Loud Speaker & Sound Booster
Wink: Connect Now
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“These 54 apps allegedly obtain various critical permissions and collect sensitive user data. These collected real-time data are being misused and transmitted to servers located in a hostile country,” the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has said about the India ban on Chinese apps, as quoted by NDTV. “In addition there are other serious concerns as some of these apps can carry out Espionage and Surveillance activities via camera/ mic, accessing fine location (GPS) and do malicious network activity similar to previously blocked apps. These apps were allegedly engaged in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of the country also posing serious threat to Security of the State and defense of India.”
In June 2021, India had banned 59 Chinese mobile apps including hugely popular social media platforms such as TikTok, WeChat, and Helo, citing a threat to national sovereignty and security, under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, the ministry said. This ban came on the heels of the first round of bans in June 2020 itself.
In order to enforce the current ban, the MeitY has ordered Google and Apple to block access to the apps. In a statement mailed to the media, a Google spokesperson said, “On receipt of the interim order passed under Section 69A of the IT Act, following established process, we have notified the affected developers and have temporarily blocked access to the apps that remained available on the Play Store in India.”
