Tiktok is among tens of China-made apps that have been banned in India from today. The list, which has since been published and seen across multiple social media platforms, is comprehensive and is marked by a quote that the apps ‘are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity’ of the world’s second-most populous country.
The rest of the list includes the following apps:
1. TikTok
2. Shareit
3. Kwai
4. UC Browser
5. Baidu map
6. Shein
7. Clash of Kings
8. DU battery saver
9. Helo
10. Likee
11. YouCam makeup
12. Mi Community
13. CM Browers
14. Virus Cleaner
15. APUS Browser
16. ROMWE
17. Club Factory
18. Newsdog
19. Beutry Plus
20. WeChat
21. UC News
22. QQ Mail
23. Weibo
24. Xender
25. QQ Music
26. QQ Newsfeed
27. Bigo Live
28. SelfieCity
29. Mail Mast
Additional apps include:
30. Parallel Space
31. Mi Video Call – Xiaomi
32. WeSync
33. ES File Explorer
34. Viva Video – QU Video Inc
35. Meitu
36. Vigo Video
37. New Video Status
38. DU Recorder
39. Vault- Hide
40. Cache Cleaner DU App studio
41. DU Cleaner
42. DU Browser
43. Hago Play With New Friends
44. Cam Scanner
45. Clean Master – Cheetah Mobile
46. Wonder Camera
47. Photo Wonder
48. QQ Player
49. We Meet
50. Sweet Selfie
Others are, Baidu, Vmate, QQ International, QQ Security Center, QQ Launcher, U Video, V fly Status Video, Mobile Legends, and DU Privacy.
Based on the titles, it is obvious that some of them are pretty popular, and are used by hundreds of millions of people per month.
Tiktok, for instance, has more than 200 million active users per month in India.
Alibaba has two of its apps listed: UC Browser and UC News.
Other popular titles include the likes of Shareit and CM Browser.
Also in the list is ES Explorer, the file manager app that was so popular back in the day, but lost its way a few years ago.
So, what prompted this move?
Well, the Indian government has a word: The Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) has also received many representations from citizens regarding the security of data and breach of privacy impacting upon public order issues.
The statement above was reported by TechCrunch.
As of this writing, the apps can still be downloaded from Google Play and App Store. Google, for instance, says it has not received a request to pull the apps down. Other stakeholders such as service providers report the same thing. However, they have always complied with requests from the Indian government, meaning it is likely they are going to corporate.
