The government on Wednesday blocked 118 more mobile apps with Chinese links, including popular game PUBG, citing data privacy concerns and a threat to national security. As on Friday, Google Play store and Apple App store have taken down PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite app, which were available for download until Thursday night.
The govt ban on Wednesday takes the total count of Chinese-linked mobile apps banned by India to 224.
The apps banned on Wednesday include Baidu, Baidu Express Edition, Alipay, Tencent Watchlist, FaceU, WeChat reading, Government WeChat, Tencent Weiyun, APUS Launcher Pro, APUS Security, Cut Cut, ShareSave by Xiaomi, and CamCard, besides PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite, an official statement said.
It cited numerous complaints received by the IT Ministry 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 to servers outside India.
