The government of India has yet again banned several mobile applications in the country on Wednesday. The Ministry of Information & Technology banned a total of 118 apps that includes a widely popular battle royale shooter game, PUBG Mobile.
The Government claimed that all the apps that have been banned are prejudicial to the sovereignty and the integrity of India. Also, the Defense of India and the Security of State and Public Order were also potentially vulnerable due to the usage of these apps, the ministry claims in a statement.
Government blocks 118 mobile apps which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, Defence of India, Security of State and Public Order: Govt of India
PUBG MOBILE Nordic Map: Livik, PUBG MOBILE LITE, WeChat Work & WeChat reading are among the banned mobile apps. pic.twitter.com/VWrg3WUnO8
— ANI (@ANI) September 2, 2020
The Ministry reported that they have received hundreds of reports claiming the ill-usage of user’s data through these banned apps. These apps deliberately misused and stole the user’s data and then transmitted them to different servers located outside of India. The other apps that are banned apart from PUBG MOBILE Nordic Map: Livik are PUBG MOBILE LITE, WeChat, and WeChat Work.
The ban comes after the border tension between India and China calmed down in easter Ladakh. The mining of user’s data through these apps encroaches the sovereignty of India, which is not acceptable and is a matter of immediate concern. Before the ministry banned these apps, the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre had already recommended the citizens to block such apps.
This is the second time the country of India has banned mobile apps, that are based in China or has a Chinese connection. Back in June, the Government of India blocked popular short-video sharing app, TikTok from Android and iOS platforms citing similar national security reasons.
The complete list of the mobile applications that were blocked on Wednesday can be found here!
Most of these apps are the clone apps that were already banned by the government in June, earlier this year. The big names on the list are Pubg Mobile and Tiktok. The online multiplayer battle royale game is immensely popular in the country with more than a hundred million downloads in Google Play Store. People have always been vocal about the negative impact of Pubg Mobile among younger players in India.
