On 29th June, to ensure the safety and sovereignty of the Indian cyberspace, the Government of India issued a press release to block 59 apps. Enclosed with the press release was the appendix that named these malicious apps, which included some well known apps like Tiktok, Shareit, UC Browser, Helo, Likee, Romwe, Club Factory and Shein. Some of these apps had quite a cult following so much so that when the news broke about these apps getting banned in India, huge hue and cry broke out among the masses. Majorly People have been supportive of this government move but not all were satisfied with it. Apart from the opposition, some content creators on Social media took to applaud the move but many other were quite distraught. The reason being, many content creators have built their career on Tiktok and snatching away the app was a direct shock to their livelihoods. Granted, they are right. But the question remain, was it really necessary to take this huge step? Are Chinese apps really not safe? Let us find out.
In today’s ever growing digital era, a lot of concern has been focussed upon Privacy and data security. Many have been also concerned if they pose a threat to the nation’s security. The Ministry of Information Technology, Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs and Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-IN) have been sent numerous complaints from various sources that included several reports of safety concerns. They range from misuse of mobile apps for stealing and transmitting user’s data in an unauthorized manner to servers located outside India to security of data risk and breach of privacy impacting upon public order issues. Overall, the main concern was that the illegally shared data could possibly be mined and profiled by hostile elements and become a threat to national security and defence of India.
For example, Camscanner had gained a sort of cult following in the Country. This app was used to scan documents into PDF. Now many government employees also have been using these apps quite frequently, thereby possibly transmitting important documents into servers that the Nation has no control or command over unintentionally. As such, they heavily impinge upon the sovereignty and security of the country.
In the year 2019, Madras High Court took a similar step when they banned the app Tiktok. Though the petition read that the app promotes “degrading culture and encourages pornography besides causing paedophiles and explicit disturbing content, social stigma and medical health issues between teens” the overall negative sentiment gained momentum through concerns regarding inappropriate sharing and misuse of data. Later the court had to rescind the step and lift the ban as the parent company Bytedance “committed to enhance their security features”. Obviously the statement remained not executed from the parent company as the Government of India put up a new ban on the app citing safety reasons.
It is safe to say that the GOI has had its share of easy going attitude regarding the cyber world and now is fullycommitted to take up the privacy and security of its netizens seriously.
