- On June 29, India banned 59 Chinese apps, including the TikTok video app, which is very popular in India.
- On Monday, the Indian government banned another 47 apps that were clones that allowed people to access previously banned apps.
- It also released a list of 275 more apps it is considering banning.
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India last month banned 59 Chinese apps, including the popular TikTok, citing the need for “data sovereignty.”
Now the country has restarted another 47 and is reviewing 275 more for possible bans.
The 47 apps that have been recently banned were mostly clones or service variants like TikTok by India Today. One of the prohibited applications was called “TikTok Lite”.
Punit Agarwal, head of Delhi BJP’s IT and social media cell, confirmed the news on Twitter, writing: “The Indian government bans 47 more Chinese apps that were variants and cloned copies of the 59 apps that were banned in June. These banned clones include Tiktok Lite, Helo Lite, SHAREit Lite, BIGO LIVE Lite, and VFY Lite. More than 250 lower-radar apps, including PubG. #DigitalStrike. “
Before it was banned on June 29, TikTok had a huge audience in India. In April, the app topped 2 billion downloads worldwide, of which 611 million came from India and represents 30% of TikTok’s total global audience.
Indian TikTok users seem to deeply feel the absence of the app.
Data from the analysis site Sensor Tower shows that since the TikTok was banned, the download rates of the next three most popular video-sharing apps have skyrocketed by 155%.
The Economic Times reports that the Indian government is reviewing 275 other applications, including the popular battle royale video game “Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds” (PUBG), owned by Chinese gaming giant Tencent. Also included in the list is Resso, a music streaming app owned by TikTok’s parent company ByteDance.
The initial ban on Chinese apps went into effect after an outbreak of geopolitical tensions between India and China following a skirmish in the disputed territory of Ladakh in northern India.
India is not the only country taking drastic measures against Chinese applications. Last week, Pakistan issued a final warning to TikTok, citing complaints about “immoral content.” Earlier this month, Pakistan also imposed a temporary ban on PUBG, saying it had also received complaints that the game was “addictive, [a] waste of time and poses a serious negative impact on the physical and psychological health of children. “
The Trump administration has also made noises about a possible TikTok ban. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said July 7 that the United States is “certainly” considering banning TikTok over privacy and national security concerns. A day later, President Trump said he was considering banning the TikTok as a means of punishing China for the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic.
