Govt bans 47 more Chinese mobile apps

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.

The list of the concerned mobile applications will be published soon.

An official source said that the latest apps to be banned were found to be cloning the previously banned apps.

The development comes days after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) directed the 59 banned apps to strictly adhere to the orders or face serious action in case of violation.

The Ministry has written to all the companies concerned and said that making the apps available, directly or indirectly, would violate IT Act and other laws.

On June 29 the government had last month banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok, WeChat and UC Browser and Xiaomi's Mi Community over national security concerns amid the border tussle in Ladakh which led to the death of 20 Indian soldiers in the Galwan Valley clash with Chinese PLA troops.

"These measures have been undertaken since there is credible information that these apps are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order," MeitY's statement had said.

According to the ministry, the move would safeguard the interests of crores of Indian mobile users.

Other Chinese apps in the banned list were Club Factory, SHAREit, Likee, Mi Video Call (Xiaomi), Weibo, Baidu, BIGO LIVE and more