India is moving to block 232 apps, some with links to China, that offer betting and lending services in the South Asian market to prevent misuse of citizens’ data, state public broadcaster saying Sunday.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology is in the process of enforcing an emergency order to ban 138 betting and gambling apps and 94 others that provide unauthorized lending services in order to protect the integrity of the country, it said. the station.
The ministry’s move was prompted by the leadership of the Home Ministry, Prasar Bharti added. The apps sought to trick customers into taking on large debts without realizing the terms and there were concerns that they could be used as tools for espionage and propaganda.
Sunday’s move is the latest in a series of government efforts to crack down on loan shark applications and other services that pose a threat to the nation’s citizens.
The Reserve Bank of India introduced strict rules for digital lending companies last year, recommending that companies provide more transparency and control to customers.
Under the new rules, lenders cannot increase a customer’s credit limit without their consent and are required to disclose the annual loan rate in explicit terms. Digital lending applications are also required to obtain prior explicit consent from customers before collecting data, and all such requests must be “need-based.”
India has also blocked more than 300 apps with links to China in recent years to protect the nation’s sovereignty and integrity. New Delhi banned Tencent’s Xriver, Garena’s Free Fire, NetEase’s Onmyoji Arena and Astracraft and 50 other apps with apparent links to China early last year. The Indian government also banned dozens of apps, including ByteDance’s TikTok, Xiaomi’s Community and Video Call apps, and Alibaba Group’s UC Browser and UC News in mid-2020 amid geopolitical tensions between the two neighboring countries.
New Delhi has never specifically said that it is taking action on apps from a particular country.
However, Brendan Carr, the top Republican on the Federal Communications Commission, praised India’s blocking of TikTok and other apps last month, saying the country set an “incredibly important precedent” by banning the ByteDance app.
Carr cautioned that TikTok “works like a sophisticated surveillance tool” and found that banning the social app was a “natural next step in our efforts to secure the communication network.” Carr said he was concerned that China could use sensitive, non-public data obtained from TikTok for “blackmail, espionage, foreign influence campaigns and surveillance.”
“We need to follow India’s lead more broadly to remove other nefarious apps as well,” he added.
