Indian Government Adds Another 43 Chinese Apps on the Blocklist

Published on November 25, 2020
Written by:
Bill Toulas
Bill Toulas
Infosec Writer

A new wave of Chinese app bans has been announced by the Indian Ministry of Electronics and IT, adding 43 apps that will no longer be available on India’s mobile stores. This follows the banning of 118 apps in September 2020, another 47 apps in July 2020, and 59 apps in June 2020. So, we now reach a total of 267 apps, and it’s certainly not going to stay at that figure considering the status of the relations between the two countries.

The latest additions on the blocklist are the following:

The reason for banning the above is again the belief that they are sending sensitive user data outside India and to Chinese servers. This constitutes a national risk for India and a security and privacy problem for the users themselves. In general, the two countries remain in highly tensioned relations, and they aren’t going through the best of times.

Most of the apps that have been banned this time are quite niche, although, in the massive Indian market, they still have a respectable userbase. Many of them may attempt to return to India via another name and a different developer account, but this trick may just get them going until the next wave of bans.

The “highlight” app ban is definitely the AliExpress shopping app, delivering a significant blow to the popular online retail service which belongs to Alibaba Group. There is also the app for suppliers of Alibaba and the Workbench and the Alipay apps in the same set, so all business ties between India-based sellers and the Chinese retail giant are abruptly cut.



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