New Delhi: Nearly a month after banning 59 Chinese apps, the Indian government has barred 47 more Chinese apps from operating in the country, which were largely clones of the previously banned apps, sources said.
As per the sources, the order was issued on Friday. These apps have been taken down from app stores as per official of Ministry of Electronics and IT and list will be issued soon.
After banning 59 apps in June, the Government of India had asked makers of apps to strictly comply with the orders of the ban. Govt has prepared a list of over 250 apps including some gaming apps which will be monitored for any user privacy or national security-related violations.
As per sources, Ministry of Electronics and IT 's cyber laws and e-security department had sent an email to these companies last week and had warned that if any listed application is still available or operating it will be an offence under IT Act and appropriate legal action would be taken. A set of questions were sent to these developers about the location of centres and details of data collection from users they carried out as per sources.
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India had banned 59 apps on June 29 after the clash between Indian and Chinese troops where 20 Indian soldiers were killed in action. Section 69A of the Information Technology Act was used for the ban. Later, Government Telecom companies decided to rework on tenders to keep Chinese companies out of 4G upgradation process.
The apps were banned on information that they were engaged in activities prejudicial to sovereignty, and integrity, defence, security and public order of the country. The banned apps included TikTok, CamScanner and UC Browser which had wide userbase in India.
IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also emphasised on the importance of "data sovereignty" at G20 Digital Economy Ministers virtual meeting held on Wednesday.
