TikTok Lite banned as India cracks down on more Chinese mobile apps
Government blocks 47 more Chinese apps suspected of mirroring previously blocked services
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The Indian government has banned an additional 47 apps originating from China in its latest crackdown on supposedly malicious services.
As reported byIndia Today, the country’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has barred 47 apps that were variants and cloned copies of the59 app previously banned. Many of these apps are ‘lite’ versions of their banned counterparts such as TikTok Lite, Helo Lite, SHAREit Lite and others.
Additionally, India has also put together a list of over 250 Chinese apps, including some apps linked to Chinese ecommerce and cloud giantAlibaba, that it will review for privacy and national security violations.
Some of China’s top mobile gaming apps such as Tencent-backedPUBGare also expected to be banned in India as part of the new list that is being drawn up.
Banning apps
India first announced its ban on 59 Chinese apps at the end of last month as tensions between the two countries continued to rise.
The country’s Ministry of Information Technology decided to ban the apps in the first place over concerns that they werestealing datafrom Indian citizens as well as posing a risk to its national security. A day after the ban was announced,Googleremoved all of the applications in question from thePlay Storein India.
At the same time, the Chinese-owned social media platform TikTok responded to the ban by suggesting that it would pursue legal action against the Indian government.
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Now that India has enforced its ban on 59 Chinese apps with the possibility of up to 250 other apps being banned in the future, other countries could likely follow suit, especially if its investigation into the apps ends up finding privacy and national security violations.
ViaIndia Today
After working with the TechRadar Pro team for the last several years, Anthony is now the security and networking editor at Tom’s Guide where he covers everything from data breaches and ransomware gangs to the best way to cover your whole home or business with Wi-Fi. When not writing, you can find him tinkering with PCs and game consoles, managing cables and upgrading his smart home.
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