Permanent Ban on TikTok, WeChat, along with other 58 Apps in India : Report

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A permanent ban for TikTok in India doesn’t bode well for apps banned later either, like PUBG Mobile.
TikTok was banned in June, but the ban has now been made permanent

Highlights :-

• • TikTok is now reportedly permanently banned in India
  • 58 other apps have been banned as well including WeChat
  • It isn’t clear if this will affect other banned apps like PUBG Mobile

TikTok, WeChat, and a total of 59 apps from Chinese companies have been permanently banned in India by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) according to reports. These apps were banned by the government in June 2020, and now, reports quoting sources say that the ban for these apps is permanent now.

Permanent Ban on These Apps

In an earlier conversation, sources had told Gadgets 360 that following the ban, the government had asked for responses from all the companies that were banned about the data being collected, and how it was used. It appears that the government was not satisfied with the response, and issued a notice last week, according to reports.

This does not bode well for the other apps which were banned over the course of 2020 — over 200 by the end of the year. Some, such as the hugely popular smartphone game PUBG Mobile had attempted to remedy the situation by launching a new, India-only version, PUBG Mobile India which was announced in November, after hiring new staff in India. However, later responses to RTIs showed that MeitY had given no permission to the relaunch.

With this latest development, it looks unlikely that the game will be making a comeback in India very soon. It’s also unclear what this announcement means got the hundreds of people employed by ByteDance (Tiktok’s parent company) in India — sources had told Gadgets 360 that the team in India was retained after the ban, and was participating in global operations. With India now seeing a permanent ban, will the company continue to proceed in this fashion?

“We are evaluating the notice and will respond to it as appropriate. TikTok was among the first companies to comply with the government of India directive issued on June 29, 2020. We continually strive to comply with local laws and regulations and do our best to address any concerns the government may have. Ensuring the privacy and security of all our users remains to be our topmost priority,” a TikTok spokesperson told Mint.

Tiktok, WeChat and 57 other Chinese apps stand permanently banned from India after notices were issued to them last year. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued fresh notices to make permanent the ban imposed on these apps in June, days after an unprecedented escalation in a border row with China

According to reports, the government had given the 59 apps, including ByteDance’s video-sharing app TikTok, Tencent’s WeChat and Alibaba’s UC Browser, a chance to explain their position on compliance with privacy and security requirements, but was not satisfied.

The government had issued fresh notices to the apps last week. The ministry’s order on June 29 said the apps were “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”.
Reports suggest the government was not satisfied with the response to its notice and decided to go ahead with a permanent ban.
A total of 220 apps have been blocked in India amid unrelenting border tensions with China since May.
In September, 118 more mobile apps, including Tencent’s popular videogame PUBG, were banned.
The apps were banned under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said.
India and China have had several rounds of military and diplomatic dialogue to resolve the border standoff but so far, there has been little progress on the ground