Is there any regulation behind the Chinese app bans?
The legal ground for blocking mobile apps based on country of origin is shaky at best.
Why read this story?
Editor's note: It all began in mid-2020, when the government, citing security threats, banned a plethora of apps developed or owned by Chinese companies, including viral video app TikTok. The ban was executed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, which said it had been receiving “many complaints from various sources” about apps that were “stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner”, though none of its communications said to which country data was being transmitted. Nearly two years on, not much seems to have changed. Arbitrary bans of apps with Chinese origin or sometimes even vague association continue, with the number crossing 300 by February. In between, in January last year, the government announced a permanent ban on TikTok, PUBG Mobile and 57 other Chinese apps. TikTok, the most downloaded app worldwide in 2021, ended up shutting its operations in India. Why is this in the news now? In the latest set of bans in mid-February, the talking point was Garena Free Fire, one of the most popular mobile games worldwide in the last few years, owned by …
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