Here’s another round of banning apps from the Indian Government. Two years ago, India banned 200 Chinese apps, now adding 54 more apps over security and privacy concerns. The new list of banned apps includes popular Garena Free Fire, Beauty Camera, and more. Here’s our takeaway on what went on over banning these applications.
54 New Apps Banned in India
Quite recently it has been revealed that the app bans actually come under Section 69A of the Information technology Act, 2000. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) suggests the banned apps in India were sending users’ data to other countries including China.
Resulting in a complete privacy breach, the list of apps includes the ever-popular Garena Free Fire, Beauty Camera: Selfie Camera, Camcord, Equalizer & Bass Booster, Isoland 2: Ashes of Time Lite, Tencent Xriver, Viva Video Editor, AppLock, Onmyoji Chess, Dual Space Lite and more.
What Led to the Ban of Garena Free Fire?
There is yet another possibility behind the ban of Garena Free Fire including the recent lawsuit filed by Krafton. The lawsuit demands, removing Garena Free Fire from Google Play Store and App Store based on infringements.
According to Krafton, Garena Free Fire has compiled several elements from PUBG: Battleground, the PC version of the game. Not to mention, Krafton has also sued Google and Apple for listing Free Fire on their app store followed by YouTube for allowing Free Fire gameplay video.
Related: PUBG Mobile: All the 33 Medals and their Meanings Explained
The Bottom Line
Bear in mind, this is the fifth time that the Indian Government has banned apps from Play Store and App Store. It started out back in 2020 when the Government banned 59 apps followed by 47 more apps. Consequently, the Indian Government banned 118 apps and 43 apps within the same year.
Some of the popular apps back then included TikTok, PUBG, CamScanner, UC Browser, and more. In the meantime, several new alternate apps have also emerged, the most notable including Krafton’s Indian version of PUBG.
With the announcement of the 54 banned apps, some of them are still listed on the Google Play Store. So, it is just a matter of time before the apps are removed by Google. So let us know in the comment section below, how many apps were installed on your smartphone?
