43 more Mobile Apps banned

43 More Mobile Apps banned by India

Recently, the government of India has blocked 43 new mobile apps, mostly Chinese, in the country, including the shopping website AliExpress. This is in addition to a total of 177 Chinese apps banned till now.

Key Points

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology banned these mobile apps under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act (IT Act), 2000.
Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, was introduced by an amendment to the Act in 2008.
What is in the Act? It gives the Central government the power to block public access to any information online whether on websites or mobile apps.
Under Section 69A, if a website threatens India’s defence, its sovereignty and integrity, friendly relations with foreign countries and public order, the government can ban it, after following due procedure.

What are the reasons behind banning apps?

The action was taken based on the inputs regarding these apps for engaging in activities which are prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state and public order.
The government has received many complaints from various sources about the misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India.
Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center, Ministry of Home Affairs also gave a comprehensive report against the misuse of the apps.

What is the impact of the Ban?

The decision to ban these apps, which comes amid continuing tensions between India and China, is a clear message from India that it will no longer be a victim of China’s Nibble and Negotiate policy and will review the norms of engagement.
The ban may affect one of China’s most ambitious goals, namely to become the digital superpower of the 21st century.
It will provide a good opportunity for Indian entrepreneurs to quickly rise to fill market gaps.
This is also great for the Atmanirbhar Bharat mission.
After the initial ban of apps, the government launched 'Digital India Atmanirbhar Bharat Innovate Challenge' to encourage Indian application developers and innovators and facilitate their ideas and products.

Conclusion

The next source of economic growth lies in the digital economy. India must speed up indigenisation, research and development and frame- up a regulatory architecture to claim data sovereignty.

Source: TH

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