In a major move, the Indian government has started a process to ban 230 foreign apps, including 138 betting apps and 94 loan lending apps, on an urgent and emergency basis. The list also includes Chinese apps. This move by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) was under the recommendations from the Ministry of Home Affairs.
"The order to block 138 apps that were involved in betting, gambling, and money laundering was issued last evening. Separately, an order to block 94 apps engaged in unauthorized loan services has also been issued. These apps were being operated from offshore entities, including Chinese. They were posing a threat to the economic stability of the country," the official, who did not wish to be named, told PTI.
According to media reports the government has been analysing as many as 288 Chinese apps, which revealed that these apps could have accessed personal information of the Indian citizens.
The decision to ban these apps was taken after it was confirmed that the apps violate Section 69 of the IT Act as they contain material that is prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India. This decision was also based on multiple complaints from individuals who received harassment and extortion calls after taking small loans from these apps.
There are also claims that these apps are developed by Chinese nationals who hired Indians and put them in charge of the operations.
What did these apps do?
These apps lured and trapped desperate people with an interest rate of up to 3,000 per cent annually and when they were not able to pay the interests they were harassed to pay the pending amount by representatives of the app. Individuals have reported receiving threatening and lewd messages that included threats to release morphed photos.
Why were the Chinese apps banned?
The entire incident came into focus after a series of suicides in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana by those who had lost money in betting or had taken such loans. The governments of Telangana, Odisha, and Uttar Pradesh worked with the central intelligence agencies and later asked the Union Home Minister to take action against these apps.
After research the government found that there were 94 apps that were available on the stores, while the others were working through third-party links. The apps that were not available on the stores were being downloaded through independent links or websites.
In addition to the ban the government has also issued an advisory asking the betting and gambling apps to stop advertising as these activities are banned in most parts of the country. This is also illegal under the provisions of the Consumer Protection Act 2019, the Cable TV Network Regulation Act 1995, and the IT Rules, 2021.
In the last few years the Indian government has banned as many as 250 Chinese apps claiming that these apps are 'prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of the state and public order.'
Which Chinese apps have been banned in the last few years?
The list of banned apps in India includes TikTok, PUBG, Xender, Shien, Garena Free Fire, and Camscanner, as they gather sensitive data and ask for important permissions.
It is also claimed that the servers in the hostile nation are receiving and using the collected data improperly.
