The Indian government has blocked Chinese apps from its huge domestic market as a way to strike back against China, and the new measures will prevent Indians from gaining easy access to 118 Chinese apps, including the popular video game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which has over 50 million players in India. Some of the banned Chinese apps, including Baidu, Alipay and some versions of the messaging app WeChat, are operated by the largest Chinese internet companies, like Tencent and Ant Financial. After the clashes in June, which involved hundreds of soldiers battling each other with rocks, sticks, clubs and bare fists, India banned 59 mobile apps including TikTok, ShareIt and Tencent’s WeChat, citing security concerns. On Wednesday, the Indian government extended the number of banned apps to include PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds — known as PUBG — and other gaming apps like Rise of Kingdoms and Zakzak. The government did not link the ban to the recent killing of an Indian soldier along the border.

Source: bd News24 September 02, 2020 21:00 UTC