It has been the 3rd crackdown by the Union government of banning Chinese apps. This step was taken due to the rising tension at the Line of Actual Control (LAC), as 1 soldier had been killed by the Chinese troops in a land mine earlier this week. In order to strike back, India decided to block Chinese apps from the country’s huge domestic market.
Some popular apps were also banned among these 118 apps, namely PubG, WeChat, Alipay, Baidu, etc. due to many clashes at the Line of Actual Control these actions are taken. The total number of Chinese apps banned have been 224. The main focus of this app ban is PubG as this game was developed by a Korean game-maker, its mobile version was developed by Tencent, a Chinese conglomerate.
PUBG- PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, is an online game which can be played on mobiles, pc’s and also gaming consoles like Xbox. This game has gained utmost popularity in India, and about 22 lakh people play this game on a daily basis. The pubg game has more than 600 million downloads and 50 million active users globally.
A statement was received by the Ministry of Electronics and Information and Technology saying, “The apps have been banned as they are engaged in activities prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public.” The statement further added, “”This move will safeguard the interests of crores of Indian mobile and internet users. This decision is a targeted move to ensure safety, security and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace.”
The Centre, mentioning the reasons for banning the apps on Wednesday, said in a press release, “The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and 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.”
One of the reasons mentioned by the government is that they had received complaints that the Indian users of such apps, had their personal data missing. Many Indian parents have supported this ban, as they had many complaints regarding their children playing a lot of video games. One parent even blamed the game for the death of his son.
On this app ban, the reaction of China was- “India’s latest move to ban 118 Chinese apps on Wednesday, following renewed border tension, underscored the Modi government’s “adventurism and opportunism” in an ill-intentioned move to deflect attention away from a potential collapse due to coronavirus and a crippled economy: Expert.”
NEWS REPORTED BY:
VRIDHI BHAGNARI.
