Although the restrictions are not implicitly connected to the border tensions, it seems evident that they are intended to send a message to Beijing.<\/b>
\nLate on Monday, India\u2019s Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology ordered a ban on 59 mobile apps \u2013 all from Chinese companies \u2013 that it said were \u201cengaged in activities prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order\u201d. These included apps like TikTok, Clash Of Kings and Shareit, which have millions of Indian users and large teams of employees in the country.
Although the government press release on the decision does not connect it to the current tensions on the disputed border between India and China, the move appears to be an attempt to send a message to Beijing.
Here is what we know:
According to the official press release, 59 apps \u2013 all from Chinese companies \u2013 have been banned by the government for engaging in activities \u201cprejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.\u201d
These include well-known apps like TikTok, one of the world\u2019s biggest social networks, Shareit, a popular file-sharing app, Clash of Kings, a gaming app and UC Browser, the second-most popular mobile browser in India.
See the full list here.
As of Tuesday, some of these apps had been taken down from the Apple and Google app stores, and many users said that they were no longer working even if they had already downloaded them.
The Ministry of Electronics & IT\u2019s press release cited a number of different reasons to ban the apps include
The ministry has invoked Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, which gives the government powers to block access to a website or a service if it is \u201cin the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognisable offence\u201d.
Medianama said that this is \u201cpossibly the first time\u201d this section has been used to ban apps.
India\u2019s Internet Freedom Foundation also brought up some questions about whether the manner in which the ban has been invoked, particularly in the way the government appears to have used common grounds to go against a whole number of apps.
On paper, no. The press release does not even mention China, and includes no reference to current events, falling back instead on claims of concerns about sovereignty and privacy.
Yet it seems likely that the decision is political and a response to the current tensions between India and China, which led to the first deaths on disputed border between the two countries in more than 40 years this month.
As Medianama\u2019s Nikhil Pahwa writes, \u201cThere hasn\u2019t been any significant change to the way that these apps work in the last three months, and the announcement, looks like has been made to send a signal to China.\u201d
As recently as March, Parliament was told that there had been no intelligence inputs about TikTok being dangerous for the country or any plan to ban it.
A number of these aps have massive user bases in India.
Take TikTok. The video app has had more than 2 billion installs globally, making it one of the biggest apps of all time. SensorTower data points out that as much as 30% of this \u2013 with 611 million lifetime installs \u2013 came from India. That is more than users in China.
With that popularity comes commerce, as Mint reported in February. Brands, influencers and ordinary users from around the country now count on their large followings on the app to generate business. There has been an equivalent amount of interest from Bytedance, the company that owns TikTok, which last year had hired senior management in India and pledged to invest $1 billion in the country. That said, its current revenue from the Indian market remains relatively small.
The company put out a statement on Tuesday saying it has \u201cbeen invited to meet with concerned government stakeholders for an opportunity to respond and submit clarifications.\u201d
A number of other apps on the list also have a large number of users. As Matt Sheehan on Macro Polo wrote earlier this year, \u201cIn 2015, Chinese apps accounted for just three of the top ten most downloaded apps in India. By 2019, they took six of the top ten spots, with Bytedance\u2019s TikTok taking the top spot.\u201d
India isn\u2019t the only country considering action against Chinese apps.
The United States has a national security investigation ongoing against TikTok, which has been accused of everything from backdoors and security issues, to being lax on child pornograpy to being susceptible to Chinese censorship.
A key aspect of the success of the Chinese apps is that \u201cthe target group of most of these platforms is the new internet users in India, specifically those from smaller cities and towns\u201d and that, unlike American apps, many of them have focused on moving into the Indian languages space.
\u201cThere is every possibility that such apps from bordering nations can be used to foment communal disharmony and civil disobedience,\u201d wrote Gateway House\u2019s Blaise Fernandes earlier this month. \u201cGiven the education and exposure levels of the next generation of smartphone users, this is a grave security risk, especially as smartphone penetration and data speeds improve in sensitive border areas.\u201d<\/p>\n