The Indian government has banned 118 more applications, including the popular Game PubG across India, due to rising tensions with China over the Ladakh issue.
According to NDTV, the Indian government said the ban on Chinese applications was in the interest of India’s sovereignty and integrity, defense and security. Tencent Holdings Limited’s video game PubG is among the top 5 smartphone games worldwide and has been downloaded more than 734 million times so far.
According to reports, PubG has about 50 million active players in India, but the app has now been banned there.
According to the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the mobile game was banned along with other apps under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act.
The reasons given for the ban were that the apps were involved in activities that were biased against India’s sovereignty and integrity, defense and security.
The statement said the decision was taken to ensure the safety, integrity and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace and would protect the interests of millions of Indian mobile and internet users.
Explaining its recent move, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said it had received complaints of stealing user data on Android and iOS platforms and transferring it to servers outside India.
The statement said that the cyber crime of the Indian Home Ministry had also suggested blocking these ‘harmful apps’.
Other apps blocked in India today (September 2) include games, online payment services, dating sites and selfies editing software.
In June, India banned 59 Chinese apps, including TikTak, UC Browser, VChat and Bego Live.
India had announced the ban, calling China’s applications a threat to the country’s sovereignty, integrity, defense and law and order.
Later in July, India banned 47 more applications, which were said to be clone applications of previous shutdowns.
Between 2015 and 2019, Chinese companies, including Alibaba and others, invested more than سا 5.5 billion in Indian technology companies.
It should be noted that 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a clash between Indian and Chinese troops on June 15.
Pictures released by US space technology company Maxar Technologies show Chinese installations along the Gloucester Valley.
Nathan Rosser, a satellite data expert at the Australian Institute for Strategic Policy, said the construction showed there was no prospect of a reduction in tensions.
The valley begins at the confluence of the Gulwan and Shiwak rivers, and is located east of the confluence of these rivers in the valley, which both sides formally recognize as the Line of Actual Control.
Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in a clash between Chinese and Indian forces, the deadliest clash between the two countries’ forces in 45 years.
According to experts, the chances of a direct war between the two countries are very low, but it may take some time for tensions to subside.
On the other hand, China claims that it has an area of 90,000 square kilometers in India, in response to which India claims that its area of 38,000 square kilometers is located in the mountainous region of Aksai Chin within China’s borders.