India Shook China: Banned 59 Major Chinese Mobile Applications

In a recent decision taken by the Indian government, 59 Chinese mobile applications will be banned, in India. The list of 59 applications included some major, names from the market. TikTok, which had a higher share of its business in the Indian market, is included in this list.

It would be interesting to know that in 2019, when TikTok was briefly banned, in India, ByteDance, the parent company of TikTok reportedly lost more than $500,000 daily. The User share of TikTok has increased tremendously since then in the Indian market. Therefore, the news must have come as a disaster for the company.

The Indian government took this decision after the Indian intelligence informed the government about the potential risk of security from these applications.

Since the brutal face-off between the Chinese and Indian army in the “Galwan Ghati“, a place in Ladakh, the air is stiff between both the countries.

In a press release following statement was issued by the government stating, “The Ministry of Information Technology, invoking its power under section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009 and in view of the emergent nature of threats has decided to block 59 apps since in view of the information available they are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order”. 

The press release further mentioned, “The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) has also received many representations from citizens regarding the security of data and breach of privacy impacting upon public order issues,” 

It clearly stated that this move is to “safeguard the interests of crores of Indian mobile and internet users”.

Since the tension in Ladakh, the anger against TikTok and other Chinese application/equipment was seen, in the Indian market.

The rating of the application started falling continuously on the platform after the incident took place. On Apple store, the Chinese app used to rank in the top-5 free applications which later dropped down to 10th place in the ranking.

Similarly, TikTok saw a fall in ranking on the Google Play store and slipped from third to the fifth position in India, still managed to stay in the top 10 free applications.

It is not just the country of India, which banned the Chinese application!

Taiwan also banned a few Chinese applications due to security concern. However, in Germany, Zoom was restricted for the usage, Including other apps.

Robert O’Brian, the US national security advisor, has clearly stated that the Chinese applications are used as a weapon by the Communist Party of China(CPC) to spread its ideology across the globe.

The younger generation grew highly fond of this Chinese application. The application has this younger fan base not only in India but also in countries like the US and China.

TikTok, the highest downloaded app, had more than 2-billion users. India turned out to be the largest contributor in this success, contributing 611 million user downloads.

According to the report by sensor tower, the Chinese application grew in popularity during the lockdown phase in this epidemic.

The list of 59 Chinese mobile apps included:

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. Beauty 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. QQ Security Center
47. Wonder Camera
48. Photo Wonder
49. QQ Player
50. We Meet
51. Sweet Selfie
52. Baidu Translate
53. QQ International
54. Vmate
55. QQ Launcher
56. U Video
57. V fly Status Video
58. Mobile Legends
59. DU Privacy