The government of India recently banned 59 Chinese applications and announced more than 275 application lists today. At the same time, the apps were flagged for violating data sharing and user privacy concerns. Meanwhile, GOI has already banned more than 47 Chinese applications today, which suggested they were just clones of the Chinese-banned applications. Therefore, the refreshed list contains 200+ Chinese applications, including PUBG, AliExpress, and 14 applications from Xiaomi.
“The government may ban all, some, or none from the list.”
According to ET, the list of 275 applications includes PUBG, as Tencent holds most of the stacks in the game. Therefore, the list continues with Xiaomi’s Zili, Alibaba’s AliExpress, and Resso and Unlike, developed by ByteDance, the same company that owns TikTok. The Home Ministry didn’t respond to queries, but official sources say, “Some of these apps have been red-flagged due to security reasons, while others have been listed for violations of data sharing and privacy concerns,” an official explained.
It’s a matter of fact that after the in-depth examination of the application, it was found to be sending data to China, and its concerto was the sovereignty and integrity of India. Therefore, the list suggests they are not located in China or where they operate; instead, it is about China’s data-sharing firms.
On the other hand, Tencent, Kuaishou, Xiaomi, Bytedance, and Alibaba have yet to respond. Combined, they have more than 300 million unique users from India. Moreover, 2/3 of these 200+ mobile applications belong to Xiaomi, which includes 14+ applications, such as Capcut and FaceU. Therefore, the application, which includes Meitu, LBE Tech, Perfect Corp., Sina Corp., Netease Games, Yoozoo Global, Supercell, and Tencent, is obviously because of the majority stake in PUBG.
A set of rules or defined procedures may take time, but it is the correct process to follow in the future,” said a senior government official. Moreover, the MeitY (Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology) said, “There is a process involved; a committee is in place for such ban orders. If there is such an order, then it will act.”
The deadline for the examination is this week. In contrast, Asia’s 5th largest economy for the open internet market is dominated by Chinese and American internet service providers. The calculation for the base says 450 million smartphone users. Sensor Tower reports that PUBG Mobile has seen 175 million downloads to date.