New Delhi, Feb. 14 (PTI): India on Monday blocked 54 more apps with Chinese links, including Tencent Xriver, Nice Video baidu and Viva Video Editor, over security and privacy concerns.
According to sources, these 54 apps allegedly obtain various critical permissions and collect sensitive user data. The collected real-time data are being misused and transmitted to servers located in a hostile country, they added.
The banned apps were allegedly engaged in activities prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of the country, also posing serious threat to security of the state and defence of India, the sources said.
IT ministry has issued interim directions for the blocking of 54 apps, the sources said.
The list of banned mobile apps include Beauty Camera: Sweet Selfie HD, Beauty Camera - Selfie Camera, Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade, Viva Video Editor, Tencent Xriver amongst others. Other apps that have been banned, as per fresh orders, include Garena Free Fire Illuminate, Astracraft, FancyU pro, MoonChat, Barcode Scanner - QR Code Scan, and Lica Cam.
On Monday, the sources said the IT ministry received a request for the blocking of 54 apps from Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) under the emergency provision envisaged in Section 69(A) of the Information Technology (IT) Act.
In addition, there are other serious concerns as some of these apps can carry out espionage and surveillance activities via camera/microphone, accessing fine location (GPS) and do malicious network activity similar to previously blocked apps, the sources said.