As the global trend to curb dependence on China, the Indian government banned 59 Chinese apps. Citing concern over its user guide data security and national sovereignty. Bans include a popular video-sharing app Tiktok, UC browser, and other Chinese apps.
The Minister of Electronics and Information Technology claims that these apps contain over 100 million user’s data stored outside India and were caught stealing and selling vulnerable information to other servers. Claiming these apps have a threat to national sovereignty and data security of users, the government took a drastic step which is praiseworthy.
However, there is more to this than banning the apps for privacy concerns. Amidst the Indo-China tension, the government is sending a message to the public over India’s economic dependency on China which grew due to rising border tension and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Banning of these apps over privacy concerns is hardly new as there are other tech giants like Facebook, who have reported on selling its user data yet there is no major action taken by the government.
If India wants to give an impact on its Chinese counterpart then banning of these apps will hardly do a scratch. As there are numerous times, where the government remained silent over China’s dominance in various sectors from pharmaceutical to telecom sectors, where Chinese vendors were present not only in India’s 4G network but its ongoing 5G trial as well. It will take years to achieve India’s “self-reliant” dream yet the government will need drastic economic reforms rather than banning social media and gaming apps.
Disclaimer: This Opinion is a perspective from one end, everyone might not agree with the same, we respect each and every opinion and look forward to hear it from our viewers.
