Chinese app targets Northeast youth: 'Delhi is far away, China is closer'

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The Indian government is considering banning a Chinese mobile application named REDNOTE after intelligence agencies flagged it for allegedly promoting anti-national content and psychological warfare in the country's northeastern states.

As per News18, sources in the security establishment revealed that the app, while posing as an innocuous platform, has been actively targeting users in Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, and Assam with content designed to sow distrust in Indian institutions and promote pro-China narratives.

Investigators found that REDNOTE entices users with financial incentives and other rewards to share inflammatory or misleading content. This includes fake documents purportedly from India’s external intelligence agency RAW, doctored videos, maps showing disputed territories, and messaging aligned with Pakistani and Chinese propaganda.

One senior security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, was quoted by New Indian Express as saying that,

“Given the geopolitical importance of India’s northeast in terms of the country’s security, China is applying the same strategy it used earlier in Africa, Taiwan and Hong Kong to create instability.”

According to the findings, REDNOTE pushes messages like “Delhi is far away” and “China is closer”, playing on geographical and developmental frustrations to instill separatist sentiments among the region’s youth. The app’s content is reportedly crafted by psychological operations experts from both China and Pakistan.

The Ministry of Electronics and IT has reportedly now begun formal procedures to prohibit REDNOTE from operating in India, much like it did during earlier crackdowns on Chinese platforms such as TikTok, ShareIt and UC Browser, citing national security concerns.

This latest development adds to growing concerns over China’s digital manoeuvring in India’s internal affairs. Intelligence reports have long accused Beijing of leveraging innocuous-looking mobile applications to gather data, influence public opinion, and spread disinformation in sensitive regions. In the northeast, this includes fanning ethnic and regional tensions - particularly in Manipur, Assam and Nagaland - by circulating provocative narratives around neglect by Delhi and economic promises from China.

India and China remain locked in a prolonged geopolitical rivalry, with fresh flare-ups often focused on border disputes. China continues to lay claim to Arunachal Pradesh, calling it “South Tibet” — a stance repeatedly and strongly opposed by New Delhi, the New Indian Express reported.

Chinese state media, including Global Times, has further fanned tensions with sharply critical editorials mocking India’s democratic processes and pushing narratives of Beijing’s superiority in governance and development.

The controversy surrounding REDNOTE comes amid India's wider digital crackdown on foreign apps with opaque ownership and content policies. Since the Galwan Valley clash in June 2020, India has banned over 300 Chinese-origin applications, citing risks to national integrity and data privacy.