India bans Chinese apps like TikTok and WeChat... "Action due to security threats"

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Recently, India, which has experienced border disputes with China, has banned the use of 59 Chinese smartphone applications, including TikTok and WeChat. The Indian government stated that Chinese apps could threaten India's security and pose risks of unauthorized leakage of user information.

According to foreign media such as the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) on the 29th (local time), the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued a statement saying, "Chinese apps are infringing on India's security and public order," and "There have been multiple complaints that these apps have transmitted user information to external servers without authorization. To protect the interests of Indians, the use of Chinese apps is prohibited." TikTok, a social networking service (SNS) operated by the Chinese IT company ByteDance, has 120 million users in India, and Tencent's chat app WeChat is also widely used in India, so the Chinese digital industry is expected to be impacted.

This measure came after the bloody clash between Indian and Chinese troops in the Himalayan border area on the 15th. At that time, both sides used iron rods with nails, resulting in about 20 Indian soldiers reportedly killed. Since then, Indian citizens have been burning photos of Chinese President Xi Jinping and boycotting Chinese products, intensifying anti-China sentiment.

The WSJ quoted a senior Indian government official saying, "This app ban shows one of the various options India has to retaliate against China." The Indian government has previously banned the purchase of Chinese equipment for 4G mobile networks by state-owned telecom companies and has encouraged excluding Chinese companies from the 5G network construction project, continuing the boycott against Chinese firms.