Centre to permanently ban 59 Chinese apps including SHAREit, TikTok, WeChat and more

On Monday the government at the centre decided to ban 59 Chinese mobile apps permanently, including TikTok. The announcement came several months after the government temporarily banned Chinese apps last June.

The government had sought companies' responses in the show cause notices, but sources said they are not satisfied with their responses. As per the people in the know, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has sent notices to 59 apps, including Tiktok.

The ministry suspended access to the apps in India last year amid the border dispute with China. It said that these measures were taken based on credible information that these apps are involved in activities that can harm India's sovereignty and integrity, defence of India, state security, and public order.

Chinese apps under the interim ban include Baidu, BIGO LIVE, Club Factory, Likee, Mi Video Call (Xiaomi), SHAREit, UC Browser, Weibo, WeChat, and Xiaomi Mi Community.