On Thursday, India blocked 188 mobile applications over concerns that they engage in activities that are prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity, defence, the security of the state and public order of the country.
“In the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India and security of the State [sec]. And using the sovereign powers, the Government of India has decided to block the usage of certain Apps, used in both mobile and non-mobile Internet-enabled devices,” reads a press statement from the Government.
The Ministry of Electronics and IT says the move came after complaints of unauthorized transmission of user data to servers in locations outside the country.
“The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity, is a matter of [profound] and immediate concern which requires emergency measures,” reads the statement.
The ban is likely to deal a blow on the apps, losing out on one of the largest population of young users.
Apps that will be affected by the new regulation include Baidu, WeChat, PUBG, Mobile Taobao, Tencent Watchlist, among others.
A month ago after the Government banned TikTok and 59 other Chinese apps over similar concerns.
