Internet services providers to block access to the 59 apps banned by govt

The 59 Chinese apps that have been banned by the government on Monday night will also be blocked by Internet Service Providers (ISPs) in the country. Users who have these apps on their smartphones still will not receive updates, according to a senior government official. 

ISPs in India have a similar block on porn websites in the country, but in this case it’s not very clear what ‘not getting updates’ actually means. 

People who already have the apps on their smartphones might still be able to use them, new users will not be able to download them if they have been pulled off the app stores. There are ways to sideload these apps, but those methods are not reliable and not secure either. 

Certain apps like TikTok no longer visible on the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, and it is likely that other apps on the list of the 59 might follow suit. 

However, ISPs blocking these apps means that people using VPNs (virtual private networks) can still access them, like it is with the porn sites.

The long list of 59 apps banned by the Indian government includes the likes of TikTok, Shein, CamScanner, Helo, Likee, Clash of Kings, Romwe, UC Browser, UC News, WeChat etc. You can see the whole list here and here's why the Indian government took this decision.

Some of the Indian arms of these apps have spoken up about the ban. TikTok’s India head Nikhil Gandhi said in a statement that TikTok has not sent any of the Indian users’ data to any foreign country and that security and privacy is vital for them. 

Club Factory also released a statement about the ban.

As a result of this ban, many users have mass gravitated towards alternate apps like Chingari (Indian alternative to TikTok) whose downloads skyrocketed overnight.