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Indian government wants to ban more than 50 apps including TikTok and Zoom

Indian intelligence agencies say the list of apps that includes TikTok and Zoom should be banned because it represents a national security threat

Indian intelligence agencies recently asked the government to block (or at least advise users to stop using) a list of more than 50 mobile applications, most of them directly linked to concerns about the Chinese government. The reasons are that these services are not considered secure and are extracting a massive amount of data out of India.

The list of apps that pose a security threat includes the TikTok short video app and other Chinese utility and content apps, such as UC browser, Xender, SHAREit and Clean-master. Another app on the list, despite not being Chinese, is the Zoom videoconferencing application.

Without TikTok, Zoom and other apps in India

A senior Indian government official said the recommendation from the country's intelligence agencies was recently supported by Secretariat of the National Security Council, which considered that these applications could be harmful to India's security. On June 17, the Prime Minister's government Narendra Modi blocked or issued warnings against the use of mobile applications, largely linked to China. Agencies are concerned that these applications are extracting large amounts of data from Indian users and are not safe.

Although there is still no official word on how the government will act in this regard, the decision can be complicated, as the list includes some applications that are extremely popular and frequently used in India, such as TikTok, Zoom, SHAREit, Bigo Live, Club Factory, Shein. In addition, many of these applications are the main contributors to India's virtual economy.

This decision comes at a time when the tension at the borders between the two countries is already very complicated, which led to the Chinese smartphone brand Oppo to cancel the launch of a model due to pressures for a boycott of Chinese products. In the following, we will explore each category of applications that the Indian government intends to ban use in the country.

Social media

Most of the video sharing applications used by Indians are of Chinese origin. The best example of this TikTok, which already has more than 120 million monthly active users in India. Other popular Chinese video sharing apps include Hello, which has more than 50 million users in India, and the Bigo Live, with more than 22 million users in the country.

TikTok, one of the Chinese apps Not only in India, but TikTok is one of the most popular Chinese apps in the world today

The big problem that is so popular has also made these apps the center of criticism and skepticism of the authorities and the general public. So it's not surprising that a number of video sharing apps have made the list that Indian intelligence agencies consider high-risk programs.

The list of applications in this category includes: TikTok, Zoom, Vigo Video, Bigo Live, Weibo, WeChat, Helo, LIKE

E-commerce

India has more than 500 million Internet users, but, ironically, its e-commerce industry still accounts for only about 3% of the country's overall retail. In this way, the main American retail companies, Amazon and Walmart, made major investments in the Indian e-commerce sector. Although in a smaller quantity, Chinese e-commerce apps are also trying to conquer the Indian market.

ClubFactory Purchases ClubFactory is a popular shopping app that has joined the list of services that can be banned in India

The list of applications in this category includes: ClubFactory, ROMWE, SHEIN

Beauty Apps

As in many other places in the world, India is obsessed with selfies and the country has been a breeding ground for photo enhancement applications. In 2016, India became the second largest market after China for the Meitu, maker of two of the most popular selfie enhancement apps, BeautyPlus and MakeupPlus. The company launched an application, BeautyPlus Me, designed specifically for Indian users.

https://i0.wp.com/mobilecryptotech.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/06/IMG_20190628_220054.jpg?fit=1776%2C999&ssl=1
https://dailymediaspot.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/shareit-960x960.jpeg UC Browser Unlike the West, UC Browser is the most popular Internet browser in India

News aggregators

Two Chinese news aggregator apps, the Alibaba it's the UC New, are also considered risky by Indian intelligence. In addition to these two, another news aggregation application recommended for a potential ban is NewsDog, which has an online repository of information about several companies.

NewsDog news aggregator NewsDog is a popular news aggregator in India, but the government’s concern is how the service stores data from other companies

Xiaomi

It was practically inevitable that Xiaomi, one of the largest Chinese technology brands in the world, escaped India's list of banned apps. Intelligence agencies also include three Xiaomi-owned apps that have become a household name in India: Mi Video Call, Mi Community and Mi Store.

Xiaomi logo Several apps from giant Xiaomi could be banned in India

Beijing-based Xiaomi has been a market leader in smartphone sales in India for the past five quarters. From January to March, the company accounted for 30% of all smartphones sold in India. It also sells almost 50% of all fitness bands sold in the country.

Tools

In addition to these categories of apps cited throughout the article, there are also several other Chinese apps of various uses that have been included in the list of apps flagged by Indian intelligence agencies. They offer services such as improving smartphone productivity, video editing, virus protection and social media management.

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