The government on Monday banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, ShareIt, Club Factory, UC Browser and many more. The Ministry of Information Technology took this decision under section 69A of the Information Technology Act, with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009 and in view of the emergent nature of threats.
As the official statement, the government has taken this decision in the view of the information available these apps are engaged in activities, which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, the security of the state and public order.
As per the statement, the decision was taken after the IT Ministry received complaints regarding the misuse of these mobile apps stealing and surreptitiously transmitting the data of the users in an unauthorized manner.
The official statement further read, "The Ministry of Information Technology has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about the misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users' data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India."
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