India bans 59 Chinese apps due to privacy issues; list of alternative apps. A complete guide for the clueless Indian.
India has banned 59 Chinese apps. The declaration came from Union Minister for Law and IT Ravi Shankar Prasad who tweeted from his official Twitter handle, "for safety, security, defence, sovereignty and integrity of India and to protect data and privacy of people of India, the government has banned 59 mobile apps. Jai Hind!".
The press release said that a few apps have been banned under the section 69A of Information Technology Act. The apps posed danger to the privacy of the people and the security of India. Plus there were many complaints of the apps stealing and then sending the data to servers outside India.
The security system of apple had earlier warned that it caught tiktok secretly spying on millions of iPhone users.
Can India ban Chinese imports?
India can't ban Chinese goods as it goes against the WTO norms.
Internet service providers ( voda, airtel etc) and playstore have been instructed to block these apps.
The step adopted by India is expected to be adopted by other countries like the members of Quad and the G7 countries and we may see an international boycott of Chinese apps. The good thing is we are leading the boycott.
Will the already installed apps work?
The question is will the apps which are already installed in one's phone be in a working state? Yes, they will be working until the government informs the platforms that the updates of the few apps which are banned should not be realised in India. My suggestion is that it's better we refrain from using such apps whose origin is China.
Indian government should also take some steps to ensure that the ban is properly enforced. Eg- a few years ago, Russia had tried to ban telegram. They didn't follow it up and hence later had to compromise with the makers to make some changes. Telegram was then allowed.
Here is a list of some alternatives to Chinese apps which are safer to use.
The press release said that a few apps have been banned under the section 69A of Information Technology Act. The apps posed danger to the privacy of the people and the security of India. Plus there were many complaints of the apps stealing and then sending the data to servers outside India.
The security system of apple had earlier warned that it caught tiktok secretly spying on millions of iPhone users.
Can India ban Chinese imports?
India can't ban Chinese goods as it goes against the WTO norms.
Internet service providers ( voda, airtel etc) and playstore have been instructed to block these apps.
The step adopted by India is expected to be adopted by other countries like the members of Quad and the G7 countries and we may see an international boycott of Chinese apps. The good thing is we are leading the boycott.
Will the already installed apps work?
The question is will the apps which are already installed in one's phone be in a working state? Yes, they will be working until the government informs the platforms that the updates of the few apps which are banned should not be realised in India. My suggestion is that it's better we refrain from using such apps whose origin is China.
Indian government should also take some steps to ensure that the ban is properly enforced. Eg- a few years ago, Russia had tried to ban telegram. They didn't follow it up and hence later had to compromise with the makers to make some changes. Telegram was then allowed.
Here is a list of some alternatives to Chinese apps which are safer to use.
- Shareit/Xender-------> Jio Switch/Share all
- Zoom video conferencing------->Jio Meet/Ciscowebex/Say Namaste video conferencing.
- Tiktok, Likee, Kwai, Vigo video-------> Share chat(60million downloads), Roposo, Chingari
- UC browser, MI browser-------> Chrome, Epic Browser
- Ali express/Shein/ Club Factory-------> Myntra/Ajio/LimeRoad/Amazon
- WeChat-------> WhatsApp Signal messenger/Telegram
- CamScanner-------> Doc Scanner, MS Office Lens, Adobe Scan
- WPS Office-------> Ms Office, Office systems(lighter)
- Vivavideo------->Kine Master(South Korean)
- Beauty Plus-------> Selfie Camera/ PicsArt
- Turbo VPN-------> Proton VPN(Switzerland)
- Applock-------> Norton App Lock
- Clean Master, DU speed booster-------> C Clear, Norton Clean
- Pubg, Call of duty~~~ Free Fire, Fortnite
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