WeChat cuts off service in India ( Full list of 59 banned apps )

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WeChat cuts off service in India ( Full list of 59 banned apps )

By SinAfricaNews March 13, 2021 0 Comments

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Tencent’s WeChat cuts off all service in India amid the country’s ban on Chinese apps

Super app WeChat, the multipurpose messaging and social media platform run by internet giant Tencent Holdings, has ceased operations in India weeks after a previously announced ban, dealing a blow to the millions of Indian users who use the app for personal and business reasons.

Tencent and other Chinese app operators have had no option but to fall in line with India’s ban, at a time when they also find themselves under increasing pressure from the Trump administration in the US over privacy and censorship issues.

India on Monday banned 47 more Chinese apps after blocking 59 others over privacy and national security concerns, according to an information ministry official and media reports.

“Pursuant to Indian law we are unable to offer you WeChat at this time,” said a notice sent by WeChat on Saturday to an undetermined number of Indian users, who were unable to log into the app.

“We value each of our users, and data security and privacy are of utmost importance to us,” the notice said. “We are engaging with relevant authorities and hope to be able to resume service in the future.”

Some affected Indian users reached out to WeChat’s Twitter account for help.

Around 23 per cent of internet users in India have used WeChat, a survey by research firm GlobalWebIndex last year showed. India had 687.6 million internet users at the end of January, according online statistics portal Statista.

The stakes are high for Tencent to comply with New Delhi’s restriction because at least 10 of the company’s apps have been blacklisted in India, including QQ Mail, QQ Music and short-video platform Kwai.

Earlier this month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington could sanction Chinese social media apps, including TikTok and WeChat, over privacy issues and potential national security risks. That has sparked anxiety among many overseas Chinese who use WeChat to keep in touch with family and friends back home, as well as many western companies and individuals who use the app for business.

Late in June, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued an interim order banning TikTok, WeChat, UC Browser, Baidu Map and dozens of other China-based apps, citing information that these apps “are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrityof India, defence of India, security of state and public order”.

Late in June, India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued an interim order banning TikTok, WeChat, UC Browser, Baidu Map and dozens of other China-based apps, citing information that these apps “are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”.

The ban came on the back of online protests calling for people in the vast South Asian country to boycott a range of Chinese-made goods, from apps to smartphones, after a deadly skirmish between the Indian Army and Chinese troops along the two nations’ disputed Himalayan border on June 15.

While there are many uncertainties about the ban, particularly about how it will be enforced in the long term, other affected Chinese app providers have also moved to comply with the Indian government’s directive, including removing their presence in app stores.

ByteDance-owned short video app TikTok, which has about 200 million Indian subscribers and has overtaken YouTube installations in the market, has discontinued its service in the world’s second-most populous country.

The full list of 59 banned apps is as below: