The ministry of electronics and information technology on Tuesday blocked 43 mobile applications for engaging in activities which are “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of the country, defence, security of state and public order”.
The decision to ban the applications for users in India was taken following comprehensive reports from Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center of the ministry of home affairs, the IT ministry said in a statement. WeWorkChina, AliExpress, CamCard, and Snack Video are some of the mobile applications that were banned by the Centre on Tuesday.
Earlier this year on June 29, the government had blocked access to 59 mobile apps and 118 more apps on September 2 under section 69A of the Information Technology Act. The move to ban the apps, of which most were Chinese, was termed as a digital strike on the neighbouring nation with which India has been engaged in a standoff along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in eastern Ladakh.
Previously too mobile applications such as TikTok, UC Browser, WeChat and Ludo were blocked by the government citing concerns that these are ‘prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order’.
