It was India that first banned Chinese app TikTok over security concerns
The country then was one of the largest markets for the social media platform outside of China.
In the past several year’s China has created its own virtual reality on the back of the Chinese government-imposed Great Firewall aimed to keep tech giants like Google and Facebook outside its boundaries. But, on the other hand, its national tech majors reached out to other nations on the continent and other parts of the world where they introduced their apps. Among all, India-world’s second populous country, turned out to be their biggest market with more than 200 million customer base.
Recently, India banned 59 Chinese-owned apps, including the most popular TikTok saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country.
After the ban, the information technology ministry in a statement said that the decision was taken “in view of the information available they are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.”
Advertisement
India’s ban on these 59 Chinese apps came less than two weeks after 20 Indian soldiers were killed in a violent clash with the Chinese troops near the LAC that falls close to the Pangong Tso, Galwan Valley. Reports suggest unknown numbers of Chinese soldiers also lost their lives during the clashes.
India’s ban on these apps “is a warning to the country’s tech giants, who for years thrived behind a government-imposed Great Firewall that kept out many of America’s best-known internet names,” said a Bloomberg report issued on Wednesday.
The report further talked about how India, if it achieves success in continuing the ban, can become a model for the first-world countries and other nations in the Southeast Asia region.
This moratorium has already hit the Chinese brands behind these apps who were on their way to the worlds fastest-growing mobile arena, en route to going global and challenging American tech industry supremacy, the report said.
With India’s moratorium on China-based apps and America’s agenda to stop countries from adopting Huawei Technologies for 5G networks, may spur countries around the globe to weigh the extent of their dependency on Chinese technologies or products.
Meanwhile, India’s ban on Chinese apps has received approval from the masses.
Advertisement
