Indian Govt. Looks to Block Proton Mail in the Country; Find out Why!

Back in 2022, Indiabanned over 200 Chinese appssuch as PUBG Mobile and TikTok under Section 69A of the IT Act. As per this section of the law, the MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) can issue a ban order to any such app or service that poses a threat to national security. Now, from the looks of it,Proton Mail, a popular end-to-end encryption email platform, might be next in line on the ban list.

According to a report by Hindustan Times, on February 8, 2024,13 private schools in Chennaireceived fake bomb threats. These empty threats were sent using Proton Mail, directly bringing the platform under MeitY’s radar. Following this incident, the Tamil Nadu police appealed to the IT Ministry to issue an order to block Proton Mail.

The police also tried following multiple leads to trace the IP address of the user that sent the bomb threats and thereby apprehended them. Sadly, nothing came out of it. Additionally,Interpol was reached out for helpas well. But, that didn’t pan out as intended either.

On February 14, 2024, almost a week after the incident, the Section 69A blocking committee held a meeting and reached the decision toblock Proton Mailin the country, as per the report. History is proof that the committee will issue a ban order to Apple and Google to delist the Proton Mail app from their respective app stores.

Moreover, the ban or “block” will be enforced by the Department of Telecommunications, given that the final block order is sent to the body first. At the time of writing, it hasn’t been. The app is live at the time of writing, and so is the website, but we expect an order to be sent out very soon. However, as the report reveals, how the situation will be handled can’t be said for certain.

This move also falls in line with Indiabanningencrypted apps like Threema and Briar last year, on grounds that these apps were being used by terrorists in Jammu & Kashmir. However, this is not the first time that Proton has ended up in a situation like this. In 2022, India’s refreshedVPN privacy policycaused Proton VPN to pull its physical servers out of the country.

Furthermore, Proton Mail has confirmed to HT about having received a“possible block”notice from MeitY“a few days ago.”However, they are not so happy about it.

According to the report, an official statement from Proton read,“We condemn a potential block as a misguided measure that only serves to harm ordinary people. Blocking access to Proton is an ineffective and inappropriate response to the reported threats. It will not prevent cybercriminals from sending threats with another email service and will not be effective if the perpetrators are located outside of India.”

According to a Proton spokesperson,they are“currently working to resolve this situation”with the Indian government. Further, they added that they work to“routinely remove users who are found to be doing so and are willing to cooperate wherever possible within international cooperation agreements”.

With cyberattacks on the rise, educational institutions have always been a prime target due to a general lack of cybersecurity measures. However, is blocking Proton Mail or similar platforms going to prevent that from happening? What do you think? Let us know in the comments below.

Sagnik Das Gupta

Sagnik is a tech aficionado who can never say “no” to dipping his toes into unknown waters of tech or reviewing the latest gadgets. He is also a hardcore gamer, having played everything from Snake Xenzia to Dead Space Remake.

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