The government on June 29 had banned as many as 59 Chinese applications including TikTok. Several popular applications including Shareit, Helo, Likee, WeChat, UC Browser, Shein had been mentioned among the list of banned Chinese apps.
The decision of banning Chinese apps was taken in the wake of India-China border standoff. The government banned apps in order to protect the sovereignty of Indian Cyberspace and to ensure the interests of crores of Indian mobile users.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has postponed its meeting with executives of the 59 banned Chinese apps until further notice, sources said.
Following which, the CEO of the 59 banned Chinese apps demanded a meeting with the Indian government to discuss the matter. But the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has postponed its meeting with executives of the 59 banned Chinese apps until further notice, sources said.
The meeting has been postponed just because the Indian government wants to give enough time to executives of all apps to come with an explanation for the charges leveled against them. However, a decision is yet to be taken on whether the Indian government will hold physical meetings or virtual meetings or just ask them to send in their explanations, the official said.
“This is not just for TikTok. It is a legal procedure which is common for all the apps. Now, since there are 59 apps, a lot of procedural stuff has to be figured out before the meeting happens,” the official said.
According to the rules of the MeitY, all the banned apps have been asked to clarify their data-sharing norms under a Chinese law that requires companies of Chinese origin to share data with that country’s intelligence agencies, irrespective of where they operate. A joint-secretary level panel, with officials from the ministries of IT, Telecom, Law and Home Affairs, have been tasked with hearing clarifications from company representatives.
The government blocked 59 apps for safety, security, defence, sovereignty and integrity of India. These Chinese apps have been taken down from Google Play Store and Apple App Store in India.
