FM Nirmala Sitharaman defends move banning Chinese apps, asserts 'they were deleterious'

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday, February 22, elaborated upon the Union government’s stand on the recently placed ban over 54 Chinese mobile applications over threats of security and private data breach.

While justifying the Centre’s stringent measure, Sitharaman ironed out all speculations and said that the banned apps were deemed unfit for social security and were found to be detrimental to the country in one way or the other.

Speaking on the issue, Finance Minister Sitharaman said that the "Apps got banned because they were found to be deleterious in one way or another for the country.”

'Trades continue on the requirement of importers': Nirmala Sitharaman

Noting that such preemptive measures have been taken by the Central government previously as well, Finance Minister asserted that the app ban is solely based on the cyber security threat, however, the physical trade continues between both the countries (India & China) who have been at odds after the Galwan clash in Ladakh.

“We have banned apps earlier also, like in 2020. Trades continue on the requirement of importers," she said.

India banned 54 more Chinese Apps on February 14. These apps included 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 and Dual Space Lite. 

The aforementioned apps were deemed a threat to the privacy and security of Indians as they were transferring their sensitive data to servers in countries such as China.

India’s repeated digital strikes on Chinese apps

Prior to this, the Centre has already banned a total of 224 Chinese apps. This comes amid growing calls for drastically altering the economic relationship with China in the wake of the Galwan Valley clash in which 21 Indian Army personnel were martyred. The Centre has already taken a number of steps against China in the pursuit of the Aatmanirbhar Bharat (self-reliant India) goal.

Amid the prolonged LAC faceoff, the Ministry of Information Technology on 29 May 2020, invoked its power under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act to ban TikTok and 58 other Chinese Apps. According to the Union government, this was a targeted move to ensure the safety and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace.

On 27 July 2020, the Union government further extended the ban on 47 other apps which were clones of Chinese apps banned earlier. A month later, 118 more Chinese apps were banned for engaging in activities that are prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the state. 

(Image: PTI/Unsplash)