India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology reportedly issued fresh notices to 59 Chinese smartphone applications, making the ban on these applications permanent.
The apps that remain banned now include TikTok, WeChat, and UC Browser, among many.
The ban was first imposed in June 2020, after which the applications were offered a chance to prove their compliance with security and privacy provisions in place.
TikTok is owned by ByteDance, which has come under scrutiny over the last few months over its alleged closeness with the Chinese Communist Party.
The notices were issued last week, as reported by local media. A source told Livemint that the government is dissatisfied with the explanations put forward by the companies, making the ban on these applications permanent.
The order put out by the ministry in June claimed that the applications in question were “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.
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The order came in soon after Indian and Chinese troops were engaged in a border skirmish,
Following suit, in September India banned 118 mobile applications including PUBG, a popular game made by Tencent.
A representative of TikTok told the Economic Times that the company was in the process of evaluating the notice, and that it intends to respond appropriately.
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In the aftermath of bans, many local iterations of such apps have come up, including the app “Josh”, which has received backing from Google and Microsoft.
Josh is one of a few local short-video stages that have jumped up since India hindered the uncontrollably mainstream TikTok in June in the midst of an outskirt emergency with China, pulling in worldwide financial specialist interest in applications filling the gap.
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