Centre blocks 232 China apps

New Delhi: The Indian government has taken emergency action to block 138 betting apps and 94 loans apps with ties to China, according to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY). The decision was made based on recommendations from the Union Home Ministry and was taken after the apps were found to contain content that posed a threat to the country's sovereignty and integrity. This move follows the ban of 54 Chinese apps last year, which the government claimed posed a risk to national security. The banned apps were said to have obtained critical permissions and collected sensitive user data, which was then misused and sent to servers in hostile countries. The newly blocked apps have similar functionality, privacy concerns, and security threats as the previously banned apps. In 2020, the government took multiple steps to ban Chinese apps, starting with 59 apps in June, followed by 47 related or cloned apps in August, 118 apps in September, and another 43 apps in November.