Boycott China? 52 Chinese Apps To Be Blocked, Indian Intelligence Agencies Warn

Security concerns have been raised over Chinese apps yet again and this time it is the Indian Intelligence Agencies that have sounded the alarm.?

The agencies have asked the central government to block or restrict the use 52 Chinese apps and mobile applications linked to China.

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As per the agencies, the list of 52 Chinese apps includes the likes of Tik-Tok, Zoom, Xender, SHAREit, Clean-master and UC Browser, among others. The agencies report that these apps are not secure and extract a large amount of data outside India, as mentioned by government officials cited in a Hindustan Times report.

52 Chinese apps asked to be blocked

Here is the complete list of the 52 Chinese apps that have been flagged by India's intelligence officials:

• TikTok, Vault-Hide, Vigo Video, Bigo Live, Weibo, WeChat, SHAREit, UC News, UC Browser,?BeautyPlus,?
• Xender, ClubFactory, Helo, LIKE, Kwai, ROMWE, SHEIN, NewsDog, Photo Wonder, APUS Browser,?
• VivaVideo- QU Video Inc, Perfect Corp, CM Browser, Virus Cleaner (Hi Security Lab), Mi Community, DU recorder, YouCam Makeup, Mi Store, 360 Security, DU Battery Saver,?
• DU Browser, DU Cleaner, DU Privacy, Clean Master – Cheetah, CacheClear DU apps studio, Baidu Translate, Baidu Map, Wonder Camera, ES File Explorer, QQ International,?
• QQ Launcher, QQ Security Centre, QQ Player, QQ Music, QQ Mail, QQ NewsFeed, WeSync, SelfieCity, Clash of Kings, Mail Master, Mi Video call-Xiaomi, Parallel Space

This recommendation of the Indian Intelligence Agencies was recently also supported by the National Security Council Secretariat. The NSC Secretariat believed the data transfer taking place through these apps to be potentially detrimental to India’s security. The attached risk to each of these apps is now under evaluation.

Chinese apps under the scanner

As per the report, the intelligence officials have found inputs on the Android and iOS versions of these apps having the potential to be used as spyware or other malicious ware. Many apps, either developed by Chinese or launched by companies with Chinese links, carry such potential, according to India's intelligence officials.

(Representative Image: Reuters)

Since the content moderation as well as the privacy and security controls of such apps are based in China, security agencies have advised against their use in view of the “detrimental impact that this could have on data security.”

History of Chinese apps

Chinese hardware and software manufacturers have often been blamed for breaching the data security of the users. That is also the reason why several countries had completely banned the use of some Chinese apps by their government officials. The practice was followed by several technology companies for their employees too.

With this recent tensions between India and China mounting, agencies warn that an even grave implication of these apps could be their use by China to degrade communications services in case the conflict escalates.