As part of India’s digital surgical strike against China, the Indian government has blocked two of China’s largest apps, Weibo and Baidu Search, in India. They are considered as an alternative to Twitter and Google. Soon these apps will be removed from Google App Store and Apple Play Store. Times India has given this information in a report.
It said that Internet service providers have also been asked to block these apps. An official source said that Vibo and Baidu are among 47 apps that were banned by the Indian government on July 27. It also said that the government is considering banning more apps.
PM Narendra Modi also had an account on Vibo, but he closed it amid growing tensions with China. In the backdrop of violent clashes between Indian and Chinese soldiers in the Galvan Valley in eastern Ladakh, the government had banned 59 mobile apps from China, including TickTalk, UC Browser, Hello, Likey, Share It, We Chat, Cam Scanner and Popular apps like Mi Community were included. After this, the government had banned 47 more apps.
59 apps were banned on 29 June. After this, the government gave information about banning 47 more apps, but this time the list was not made public. Most of these were lyche versions and clones of 59 previously banned apps, such as TicketLock Lite, Share It Light, CamScanner HD, BioLive Lite, Likey Light etc. The government had banned these apps, terming them dangerous for the security and integrity of the country.
Reports say that the government is preparing to ban 275 more Chinese apps, including apps like PUBG and Resso of ByteDans.
