The Indian government has banned 47 additional Chinese apps, following a ban of 59 mostly Chinese apps last month, according to several local media.
Press Trust of India (PTI), the largest news agency in India, reported on July 27 that the Indian government has drawn up a list banning 47 more Chinese apps, most of which are clones and variants of the apps banned at the end of June. Citing an unnamed source, PTI said the ban for all Indian users went into effect last Friday.
Another local media India Today, citing its own unnamed sources, also reported on the ban of the 47 apps and added that the list will be released soon.
Several local media outlets named some of the newly-banned apps, such as TikTok Lite, a lite version of the popular video-sharing app TikTok, as well as Helo Lite, SHAREit Lite, Bigo Live Lite, and Cam Scanner Advance.
TikTok, Helo, SHAREit, Bigo, and Came Scanner were among the 59 Chinese apps initially banned. According to a press release by India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, these apps “engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, security of state, and public order.”
The June ban, which also included popular Chinese messaging app WeChat and social media platform Weibo, was issued amid high tensions between China and India, after a deadly clash at a disputed border region on June 15 that left 20 Indian soldiers dead.
On Saturday, India Today reported that disengagement at some locations in the eastern Ladakh region, where the clash took place, had been complete.
