Indian Govt Bans 14 Smartphone Apps Under Terrorism Suspicion

The Indian government has blocked 14 mobile apps after they received intelligence reports that these were being used by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.

The move comes under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, of 2000 which allows the government to block any piece of technology or information that it deems as a threat to the country.

The apps in question are messaging apps – IMO, Element, and Threema, file-sharing app – Mediafire, and end-to-end encryption apps – Crypviser, Enigma, and Wickrme,1 apart from Safeswiss, Briar, BChat, Nandbox, Conion, Second line, and Zangi.

The decision to block these apps is said to have come from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

“Initially, 15 mobile applications, including a leading messenger mobile application, were identified, but action was later taken against 14 apps,” a source was quoted as saying to The Indian Express.

Reports claimed that action was taken against these apps after it was alleged that these apps were being used by terrorists to communicate with their supporters and on-ground staff in Jammu and Kashmir.

“These apps do not have any representatives in India and cannot be contacted for seeking information as mandated by the Indian laws,” a source said.

“The intelligence agencies also informed the Ministry of Home Affairs that most of these apps are designed to provide anonymity to their users and their features make it tough to resolve the entities associated with them. These mobile apps aid the terrorists and their affiliates to engage in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India and can disturb peace and harmony,” another source said to the Indian Express.

The number of apps currently banned in India stands at 288, with many of the previous apps banned with their connection to China.

The Indian government banned 54 apps in February last year that included the Tencent-backed Garena’s Free Fire. In 2020, there were a slew of apps that were banned. 59 apps in June, 118 apps including PUBG Mobile in September, and 43 apps in November.

Google and Apple will soon notify their developers to remove these apps from their respective app stores.