Heena Sharma Blog

  China's ByteDance has decided to reduce the size of its India team and is unsure when the company will make a comeback in India, it said in an internal memo to employees on Wednesday. India has decided to retain its ban on video app TikTok and 58 other Chinese apps after reviewing responses from the companies on issues such as compliance and privacy, two sources with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Tuesday.   The apps were banned amid rising tensions between India and China following a border clash between the two nations last year. "We initially hoped that this situation would be short-lived ... we find that has not been the case," ByteDance wrote in an internal memo to staff, seen by Reuters. Read More

The 59 Chinese apps banned by the government have been taken down from Google Play Store and Apple App Store in India, blocking their access to mobile phone users in the country. The government had on Monday banned 59 Chinese applications saying they were prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity, and security of the country. A day later popular short video app TikTok was taken down from Google Play Store and Apple App Store. The other 58 Chinese apps have now been removed. Google said that it has temporarily blocked access to the banned apps on its India Play Store. "While we continue to review the interim orders from the Government of India, we have notified the affected developers and have temporarily blocked access to the apps that remained available on the Play Store in India," a Google spokesperson said. Read More

India has banned 59 apps of China origin, including some popular names such as TikTok, CamScanner, Shareit, Mobile Legends, UC Browser, Mi Community, Mi Video Call and Weibo. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on Monday invoked its power under section 69A of the Information Technology Act to put a ban on these apps and termed their usage ‘prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order’. Currently, some of the apps listed under the ban are available on Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store for download. Moreover, these apps are still functional and do not seem to have been taken down from any other app distribution platforms. It is about time and the apps would be taken down from distribution platforms to curtail new downloads. However, there are ways to side load the applications on smartphones, at least on Google Android platform. Read More

As a confidence-building measure before the talks between both sides slated to start from Wednesday at the Major General-level and after the military commanders' talks on June 6, the Indian and Chinese troops have disengaged at three locations including Galwan valley area (Patrolling Point 14), Patrolling Point 15 and Hot Springs (Patrolling Point 17) by 2-2.5 kms. "Disengagement has started in the eastern Ladakh sector but what we want is de-induction of more than a division size troops (10,000 plus troops) that have been deployed by the Chinese in the rear positions in its territory along the Line of Actual Control. Disengagement is fine but the tensions can be done away with only when the Chinese de-induct their heavy build-up which includes the deployment of more than a division size of troops along with heavy artillery, tanks and infantry combat vehicles," top government sources told ANI. Read More