Centre blocks 232 betting, loan apps with China links

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, February 5

In another crackdown on mobile phone apps with Chinese links, the Union Government has ordered a ban on 232 such apps — 138 related to betting and 94 lending. The ban has been imposed on an “urgent” and “emergency” basis using relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.

The action was initiated by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on the recommendations of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

“The decision was taken after enforcement agencies flagged incidents of extortion and harassment of common people who had availed small amounts of loans through these apps, particularly in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka,” a senior official said. The move is among series of actions initiated against Chinese companies and Beijing’s economic interests by the government post a clash between the armies of the two nations at Galwan in 2020. Sources said the blocked apps were found violating Section 69 of the IT Act and contained material which was deemed as a threat to India’s sovereignty and integrity. Complaints of extortion and harassment of individuals had been pouring in. Desperate people were lured into taking loans and the interest rates were jacked up to 3,000 per cent annually.

Most of these Chinese apps employed Indian nationals and appointed them on top positions. If the debtors failed to repay the money, representatives of the apps would harass them by sending lewd messages and threatening to release their morphed pictures, the sources said.

The issue came to the fore after several cases of suicides by borrowers of these apps were reported in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. A report found some of these apps are available on e-platforms and others were operating through third-party links.

On the other hand, these apps could potentially misuse server-side security by using them as spying tools as they had access to important data of many Indians. Access to such data could be used for espionage on a large scale, due to which all such apps were being considered as a threat to the country.

The MHA had started investigating some Chinese loan giving apps around six months ago. In the past few years, nearly 250 Chinese apps related to betting, dating, loan lending and e-commerce have been banned.

Suicide by borrowers in Andhra, T’gana

• Of 232 banned apps, 138 related to betting and 94 lending
• Cases of suicide by borrowers reported in Andhra, Telangana
• MHA began looking into apps with China links 6 months ago
• Apps contained material deemed threat to India’s security

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