India bans 54 more Chinese apps for security reasons! Garena Free Fire, Viva Video face axe - Check full list here

Yet another digital strike done on the Chinese mobile applications by Indian government. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) which banned 224 Chinese apps in in 2020, has now issued fresh orders to ban around 54 Chinese apps, from operating in the country, which were largely clones of the previously banned apps.

According to a report from the news agency ANI, the 54 Chinese apps include Beauty Camera: Sweet Selfie HD, Beauty Camera - Selfie Camera, Equalizer & Bass Booster, CamCard for SalesForce Ent, Isoland 2: Ashes of Time Lite, Viva Video Editor, Tencent Xriver, Onmyoji Chess, Onmyoji Arena, AppLock, Dual Space Lite.

Government had last year banned 59 Chinese apps on June 29. Some of the popular APps banned were TikTok, WeChat and UC Browser and Xiaomi's Mi Community over national security concerns amid the border tussle in Ladakh which led to the death of 20 Indian soldiers in the Galwan Valley clash with Chinese PLA troops.

Majority of the apps banned in the June 29 order were red-flagged by intelligence agencies over concerns that they were collecting user data and possibly also sending them.

Later in September 2021, the Government of India further blocked 118 Chinese mobile apps stating that they are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the state and public order.  Other Chinese apps in the banned list were Club Factory, SHAREit, Likee, Mi Video Call (Xiaomi), Weibo, Baidu, BIGO LIVE and more.