The Government of India today officially announced the ban of 59 Chinese apps which includes several popular apps TikTok, CamScanner, UC Browser, Shareit, Mi Community, WeChat to name a few. According to the Ministry of Electronics & IT, the decision was taken upon receiving of recent credible inputs that such Apps pose a threat to sovereignty and integrity of India.
The Ministry of Information Technology has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about the misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers that have locations outside India. Now onwards, all the users in Indian will not be able to access any of these below-mentioned apps through a mobile, tablet, or any other means such as a Website, etc. These apps will be removed from the Google Play Store and Apple Store in a few hours.
| TikTok | DU Recorder |
| Helo | Vault- Hide |
| Likee | Cache Cleaner DU App studio |
| YouCam makeup | DU Cleaner |
| Mi Community | DU Browser |
| CM Browser | Hago Play With New Friends |
| Virus Cleaner | Cam Scanner |
| APUS Browser | Clean Master – Cheetah Mobile |
| ROMWE | Wonder Camera |
| Club Factory | Photo Wonder |
| Newsdog | QQ Player |
| Beutry Plus | We Meet |
| Sweet Selfie | |
| UC News | Baidu Translate |
| QQ Mail | Vmate |
| QQ International | |
| Xender | QQ Security Center |
| QQ Music | QQ Launcher |
| QQ Newsfeed | U Video |
| Bigo Live | V fly Status Video |
| SelfieCity | Mobile Legends |
| Mail Master | DU Privacy |
| Parallel Space | |
Note: Make sure you back up all the important data such as Photos, Message history, Purchase information such as Invoice, etc. from any of these apps especially apps such as CamScanner, MailMaster, WeChat, and Du Recorder. You’ll not be able to use these apps even if you downloaded them on your device unless you use a VPN service.
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs has also sent an exhaustive recommendation for blocking these malicious apps. This Ministry has also received many representations raising concerns from citizens regarding the security of data and risk to privacy relating to the operation of certain apps. The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) has also received many representations from citizens regarding the security of data and breach of privacy impacting public order issues. Likewise, there have been similar bipartisan concerns, flagged by various public representatives, both outside and inside the Parliament of India. There has been a strong chorus in the public space to take strict action against Apps that harm India’s sovereignty as well as the privacy of our citizens.