Tech War: MHA Recommends Banning 54 Chinese Apps Citing Security Concerns

The friction between India and China isn't just limited to the 3,400 km-long Line of Actual Control but it extends to Tech as well. The Ministry of Home Affairs has recommended banning 54 Chinese mobile apps that pose a threat to the country's security.

The apps against whom the adverse security inputs were generated include Sweet Selfie HD, Beauty Camera, Music Player, Music Plus, Volume Booster, Video Players Media all formats, Viva Video Editor, Nice Video Baidu, AppLock and Astracraft, among others.

A formal notification banning these apps will be issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

This will be second major action against Chinese apps.

Back in June 2021, the government had banned 59 Chinese apps including the popular short video sharing platform TikTok, UC Browser, WeChat and Bigo Live, saying they were prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and security of the country.

India isn't the only country worried about Chinese tech. Many countries are increasingly concerned about tentacles of CCP in the form of Chinese tech companies extracting data of their citizens and sharing it with Chinese intelligence agencies such as Ministry of State Security (MSS).

US intelligence agencies have warned American companies about the risks of interacting with Chinese companies. They have tried to raise awareness about Beijing's ambition of obtaining data through backdoor entry.

The head of British intelligence MI6, Richard Moore, has also spoken about the Chinese data trap. His assessment is that Beijing intends to harvest data from around the world.

Speaking in a rare interview with the BBC 4 he said that,"If you allow another country to gain access to really critical data about your society, over time that will erode your sovereignty, you no longer have control over that data."

(With inputs from PTI)