Amid the simmering Indo-China border standoff, India banned more than 100 Chinese mobile apps this year, including popular video streaming app TikTok and battle royale format game PUBG Mobile. On June 29, Ministry of Information Technology banned 59 mobile apps citing that these apps are engaged in activities which are ‘prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.’ Later, government banned few more Chinese mobile application, taking the total number of apps banned in India to over 260. Many apps are trying to convince Indian government and trying to re-enter India. But till when they will be able to make a comeback is still not clear. Let’s take a look at ten most popular apps that are banned.
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TikTok |Video-sharing social networking app is owned by ByteDance. The platform is used to make short videos of 3 seconds to 1 minute duration. TikTok is hoping to make a comeback in India, after getting banned for months now. (Image: Reuters)
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PUBG | The PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds mobile game has a huge fan base in India. The Chinese mobile application is among the 118 apps banned by Indian government. However PUBG Corporation is planning to return India with several changes and modification.
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AliExpress | Online retail service based in China owned by the Alibaba Group was one of the biggest apps banned by the Indian government. This comes as a major setback to Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba. (Image: News18)
Shein | Popular e-commerce website was also among the application recently banned in India. The app use to offer trendy clothes with great deals. (Image: Reuters)
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Club factory | Another online shopping platform Club Factory, also had a major customer base in India. Like Shein, Club Factory also use to provide trendy products and branded items at a cheaper rates. (Image: Justdial)
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Camscanner | The image scanner application allows iOS and Android users to scan documents and share them. The app got banned in India along with other apps from Chinese companies since July. However even after the ban, the app is still being used by many, including some government officials. (Image: News18)
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Wechat | Multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app is developed by Chinese multinational technology company Tencent. (Image: Reuters)
UC Browser | Web browser developed by mobile internet company UCWeb, subsidiary of Chinese multinational technology company Alibaba Group. (Image: Moneycontrol)
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SHAREit | Another file sharing app SHAREit is banned in India due to its Chinese origin citing data and privacy issues, threatening sovereignty and security of the nation. (Image: News18)
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Helo | Another social media networking platform developed by Chinese company is banned in India under Section 69A of Information Technology Act.
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Snack Video | Video creation and sharing platform gained popularity in India after TikTok ban, becoming an alternative for Indian users. But the happy days ended soon when in the month of November government banned the social networking app Snack Video along with other 42 Chinese application. (Image: Facebook)
