India has blocked two of the most well known Chinese apps, Baidu Search and Weibo.
Respectively, the apps serve as the Chinese equivalents of Google and Twitter - both of which are blocked in China. India’s Economic Times reports that the country’s government has instructed Google and Apple to remove the apps from their stores and ordered ISPs to prevent them from being accessed.
India is in the midst of a crackdown on Chinese technology firms as tensions between the countries escalate following a skirmish in June this year over a longstanding border dispute.
On 29th June, India’s government publicly added 59 Chinese-made apps to a block list, including TikTok, UC Browser, Helo, Likee, Shareit, Mi Community, WeChat and CamScanner. On 27th July, it added a further 47 apps to this list but did not name the apps in question.
An official government source confirmed that Baidu and Weibo were “among the 47 new apps that the government had banned on July 27”, and noted that further apps could be added to this list. The government has accused the apps of “engaging in activities which are prejudicial to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”.
