Business & Economy

India blocks 43 Chinese apps including Alibaba

New Delhi, Nov 23 (efe-epa).- India on Tuesday announced a ban on the mobile phone application of e-commerce giant Alibaba along with 42 other apps, most of them Chinese, amid ongoing border tensions between the two Asian powers.

The latest ban comes after the Indian government had already blocked 170 other apps – mainly from the neighboring country – since June, after a series of border clashes with China along their disputed border along the Himalayas.

“The government of India today issued an order under section 69A of the Information Technology Act blocking access to 43 mobile apps,” the ministry of electronics and information technology said in a statement.

It added that the decision was taken “based on comprehensive reports received from Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Center, Ministry of Home Affairs.”

“This action was taken based on the inputs regarding these apps for engaging in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order,” said the ministry

The list includes a number of other services offered by Chinese e-commerce conglomerate Alibaba and around a dozen online dating apps, which had one of their biggest user bases in India.

New Delhi had already blocked access to 59 mobile phone apps in June and another 118 in September – including the popular video-sharing platform TikTok – citing similar reasons.

The bans come at a time when bilateral tensions have been high for months following a clash in the northern Himalayan region of Ladakh on June 15, in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed and over 70 injured, while the Chinese side did not report any casualties

Although both sides have continued discussions for a military deescalation, the situation continues to be tense along the highly militarized and thousands of kilometers-long Line of Actual Control (LAC), the de-facto border between India and China. EFE-EPA

igr/ia

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