India bans 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok and WeChat, after deadly border clash

Name: Indians call for boycott of Chinese goods after deadly border clash with China
Uploaded: 2020-06-29T17:34:30.000Z
Duration: 1 min 58 s
Description: Indians call for boycott of Chinese goods after deadly border clash with China

Government cites national security and privacy concerns, saying decision aims to ‘ensure safety and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace’

Country has an estimated 120 million TikTok users, making it the video-sharing app’s biggest international market

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Video-sharing apps like TikTok are popular among India’s youths. Photo: dpa

Reuters

Published: 1:34am, 30 Jun 2020Updated: 3:50pm, 1 Jul 2020

India on Monday banned 59 Chinese mobile apps, including the wildly popular TikTok and WeChat, over national security and privacy concerns just weeks after a deadly Himalayan border clash between the nuclear-armed neighbours.

Relations between the world’s two most populous nations have been strained following the deaths of 20 Indian troops in hand-to-hand fighting with their Chinese counterparts on the western end of the high-altitude, contested border in mid-June.

The apps “are engaged in activities … prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order,” the ministry of information technology said in a statement.

“The government of India has decided to disallow the usage of certain apps … This decision is a targeted move to ensure safety and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace.”

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Indians call for boycott of Chinese goods after deadly border clash with China

The statement said the move was taken after several complaints were received by the ministry alleging theft of users’ data and violations of user privacy. It was unclear when the ban would come into force.