India bans 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, UC Browser, Weibo, and WeChat

The Indian government has banned today 59 Chinese mobile applications on the grounds of national security, according to a government mandate seen by ZDNet.

The ban comes after the Indian military clashed with Chinese forces in the region of Ladakh, in northern India, on June 15, this year. The clashes resulted in at least 20 Indian soldier deaths, and more than 75 injured.

The New Delhi government argues that the 59 apps have been used to collect data on Indian users, data that has been sent back to servers in China.

Indian officials said they believe the data has been mined and used to profile Indian users by “elements hostile to [the] national security and defence of India.”

The Indian Ministry of Information Technology, who authorized the ban today, said it received an “exhaustive recommendation” to ban the 59 Chinese apps from the Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre at the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Furthermore, the ministry also said India’s Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) has also received complaints from users about the privacy and security of the banned apps.

It is currently unclear how the Indian government will proceed with the ban at a technical level. The apps are still available on app stores, and they are still working inside the country, at the time of writing. It is unclear if the New Delhi government will ask app stores to remove the apps from their locale Indian stores, or if the government will use local ISPs to block the app’s domains.

National-level app bans are usually incredibly hard to enforce. Russia has recently “formally” unbanned the Telegram app after a two-year ban, albeit, the app has never stopped working inside the country, with the Telegram team always finding new ways to bypass the Kremlin’s ISP-level ban.

The full list of Chinese apps the Indian government banned today is below and includes:

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 Master

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

51. Baidu Translate

52. Vmate

53. QQ International

54. QQ Security Center

55. QQ Launcher

56. U Video

57. V fly Status Video

58. Mobile Legends

59. DU Privacy