India bans TikTok and Tencent’s QQ Music, alongside 57 other Chinese-owned mobile apps

India’s government has blocked Bytedance’s TikTok and Tencent Music Entertainment’s QQ Music from devices in the country, as it officially bans 59 Chinese-owned mobile apps.

Other apps now banned in India, per a government announcement today (June 29) include Baidu’s Baidu Map and Alibaba‘s UC Browser, in addition to social video app Kwai and filesharing app ShareIt.

India’s Ministry of Information Technology claims that the blocked apps are “prejudicial to [the] sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”.

Relations between India and China worsened earlier this month, after 20 Indian soldiers were killed on the disputed Himalayan border with China. The Indian army claimed that these deaths were the result of a “violent face-off” with Chinese soldiers.

In April, data monitor SensorTower reported that TikTok had surpassed 2 billion downloads worldwide. Its data suggested that India had been the biggest driver of this growth, with 611 million lifetime downloads of TikTok, or 30.3% of the total.

A statement from India’s Ministry of Information Technology released today reads: “Over the last few years, India has emerged as a leading innovator when it comes to technological advancements and a primary market in the digital space.

“At the same time, there have been raging concerns on aspects relating to data security and safeguarding the privacy of [1.3 billion] Indians. It has been noted recently that such concerns also pose a threat to sovereignty and security of our country. The Ministry of Information Technology has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India.

“The compilation of [this] data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and [the] defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures.”

It continues: “[Upon] receiving recent credible inputs that such Apps pose threat to sovereignty and integrity of India, the Government of India has decided to disallow the usage of certain Apps, used in both mobile and non-mobile Internet enabled devices… This move will safeguard the interests of [millions] of Indian mobile and internet users. This decision is a targeted move to ensure safety and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace.”

You can see a list of the apps banned in India below.

  1. TikTok
  2. Shareit
  3. Kwai
  4. UC Browser
  5. Baidu map
  6. Shein
  7. Clash of Kings
  8. DU battery saver
  9. Helo
  10. Likee
  11. YouCam makeup
  12. Mi Community
  13. CM Browers
  14. Virus Cleaner
  15. APUS Browser
  16. ROMWE
  17. Club Factory
  18. Newsdog
  19. Beutry Plus
  20. WeChat
  21. UC News
  22. QQ Mail
  23. Weibo
  24. Xender
  25. QQ Music
  26. QQ Newsfeed
  27. Bigo Live
  28. SelfieCity
  29. Mail Master
  30. Parallel Space
  31. Mi Video Call – Xiaomi
  32. WeSync
  33. ES File Explorer
  34. Viva Video – QU Video Inc
  35. Meitu
  36. Vigo Video
  37. New Video Status
  38. DU Recorder
  39. Vault- Hide
  40. Cache Cleaner DU App studio
  41. DU Cleaner
  42. DU Browser
  43. Hago Play With New Friends
  44. Cam Scanner
  45. Clean Master – Cheetah Mobile
  46. Wonder Camera
  47. Photo Wonder
  48. QQ Player
  49. We Meet
  50. Sweet Selfie
  51. Baidu Translate
  52. Vmate
  53. QQ International
  54. QQ Security Center
  55. QQ Launcher
  56. U Video
  57. V fly Status Video
  58. Mobile Legends
  59. DU Privacy

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