In the latest turn of events between the two nuclear-armed adversaries, the Indian army has decided to ban a total of 89 apps for use by army personnel. This move comes after the recently announced ban of 59 Chinese apps, in the wake of the Galwan valley standoff, for the Indian market that created a huge uproar from the corporate world of both the nations.
Now, the Indian army has sent out a list, directing army personnel to stop using these apps immediately. The reasons given by the army officials for this sudden ban is the possibility of cyberespionage threat that these apps pose. Historically, a few of these apps have been used to honeytrap army officials and making them expose the secrets of the army and sensitive data.
Although these apps are available to use for the general population, army men won’t be permitted to use these apps at all. Below is the complete list of all the apps banned by the Indian army.
- Kik
- ooVoo
- Nimbuzz
- Helo
- Qzone
- Share Chat
- Viber
- Line
- IMO
- Snow
- To Tok
- Hike
- TikTok
- Likee
- Samosa
- Kwali
- Shareit
- Xender
- Zapya
- UC Browser
- UC Browser Mini
- LiveMe
- BigoLive
- Zoom
- Fast Films
- Vmate
- Uplive
- Vigo Video
- Cam Scanner
- Beauty Plus
- True Caller
- PUBG
- NONO Live
- Clash of Kings
- All Tencent gaming apps
- Mobile Legends
- Club Factory
- AliExpress
- Chinabrands
- Gearbest
- Banggood
- MiniInTheBox
- Tiny Deal
- Dh gate
- LightinTheBox
- DX
- Eric Dress
- Zaful
- Tbdress
- Modility
- Rosegal
- Shein
- Romwe
- Tinder
- TrulyMadly
- Happn
- Aisle
- Coffee Meets Bagel
- Woo
- OkCupid
- Hinge
- Badoo
- Azar
- Bumble
- Tantan
- Elite Singles
- Tagged
- Couch Surfing
- 360 Security
- Baidu
- Ello
- Snapchat
- Daily Hunt
- News Dog
- Pratilipi
- Heal of Y
- POPXO
- Vokal
- Hungama
- Songs.pk
- Yelp
- Tumblr
- FriendsFeed
- Private Blogs
As you can see, most of the apps that are banned are of Chinese origin, but there are a few apps of American (Reddit) and Scandinavian (True caller) origin as well. Army officials state that the way these apps process user data may prove to be harmful to India’s digital sovereignty, integrity and defence.
In a past case from February 2020, that involved the arrest of 11 navy personnel on espionage charges, the Indian Navy laid out strict measures to prohibit the use of social networking sites such as Facebook and Tinder.
Social network apps such as Facebook have also been used by ISI operatives who leverage these platforms for honey trapping top army officials. The video-conferencing app Zoom was banned due to the numerous privacy concerns raised over its data processing techniques and security flaws.
The ministry further stated that it has been receiving repeated complaints from sources that reported that a few Android & iOS apps are transmitting user data to offshore servers. The compilation of this data could prove to be a huge problem for India’s digital sovereignty and may also raise concerns on national security.
Summarizing, the recent ban of the 59 Chinese apps coupled with this latest ban of 89 apps proves that India is now taking its digital space very seriously and is ready to take any strict decision that benefits the national security as well as digital sovereignty of our country.
