Why India banned 54 Chinese apps including Garena Free Fire, CuteU, more: Here is the TRUTH

The central government on February 14 passed an order to ban 54 Chinese apps in the country, including the extremely popular Garena Free Fire, CuteU, Equalizer, Music Player, Tencent Xriver and more. The decision was taken citing security concerns. The reason was not very clear, but now, FM Nirmala Sitharaman has revealed why these Chinese apps were banned by India. The Finance Minister on Tuesday said that the Chinese apps were banned because they were ‘deleterious’ in one way or another. Sitharaman informed reporters that the topic was discussed at the meeting of Financial Stability Development Council (FSDC), which comprises all the Financial sector regulators, according to a report by livemint.com.

As per the report shared by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) these Chinese apps were either the cloned version or having similar functionalities, privacy issue and security threats as was the case in the 267 previously blocked apps by the government in the year 2020. The Indian government initially blocked 59 apps on 29 June 2020 followed by 47 related/cloning apps on 10 August 2020, thereafter 118 apps were blocked on September 1, 2020 and later 43 apps were blocked on November 19, 2020.

As per the information these 54 apps allegedly obtain various critical permissions and collect sensitive user data. These collected real-time data are being misused and transmitted to servers located in a hostile country.

In addition there are other serious concerns as some of these apps can carry out Espionage and Surveillance activities via camera/mic, accessing fine location (GPS) and do malicious network activity similar to previously blocked apps. Therefore, MeitY has issued Interim directions for the blocking of 54 Chinese Apps in India.

Check the Full List of Chinese apps banned in India

1. Beauty Camera: Sweet Selfie HD

2. Beauty Camera – Selfie Camera

3. Equalizer — Bass Booster & Volume EQ &Virtualizer

4. Music Player- Music, Mp3 Player

5. Equalizer & Bass Booster – Music Volume EQ

6. Music Plus – MP3 Player

7. Equalizer Pro – Volume Booster & Bass Booster

8. Video Player Media All Format

9. Music Player – Equalizer & MP3

10. Volume Booster – Loud Speaker & Sound Booster

11. Music Player – MP3 Player

12. CamCard for SalesForce Ent

13. Isoland 2: Ashes of Time Lite

14. Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade

15. APUS Security HD (Pad Version)

16. Parallel Space Lite 32 Support

17. Viva Video Editor – Snack Video Maker with Music

18. Nice video Baidu

19. Tencent Xriver

20. Onmyoji Chess

21. Onmyoji Arena

22. AppLock

23. Dual Space Lite – Multiple Accounts & Clone App

24. Dual Space Pro – Multiple Accounts & App Cloner

25. DualSpace Lite – 32 Bit Support

26. Dual Space – 32Bit Support

27. Dual Space – 64Bit Support

28. Dual Space Pro – 32Bit Support

29. Conquer Online – MMORPG Game

30. Conquer Online Ⅱ

31. Live Weather & Radar – Alerts

32. Notes- Color Notepad, Notebook

33. MP3 Cutter – Ringtone Maker & Audio Cutter

34. Voice Recorder & Voice Changer

35. Barcode Scanner – QR Code Scan

36. Lica Cam – selfie camera app

37. EVE Echoes

38. Astracraft

39. UU Game Booster-network solution for high ping

40. Extraordinary Ones

41. Badlanders

42. Stick Fight: The Game Mobile

43. Twilight Pioneers

44. CuteU: Match With The World

45. SmallWorld-Enjoy groupchat and video chat

46. CuteU Pro

47. FancyU – Video Chat & Meetup

48. RealU: Go Live, Make Friends

49. MoonChat: Enjoy Video Chats

50. RealU Lite -video to live!

51. Wink: Connect Now

52. FunChat Meet People Around You

53. FancyU pro – Instant Meetup through Video chat!

54. Garena Free Fire – Illuminate