India bans 232 loan and betting apps linked to China

The Indian government has yet again raised the ban hammer against 232 mobile apps that allegedly have links with China. According to multiple reports, the apps in question are engaged in betting, gambling, and unauthorised loan services.

According to an official source, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has issued an order to block these apps based on instructions from the Ministry of Home Affairs.

“The order to block 138 apps that were involved in betting, gambling and money laundering was issued last evening. Separately, an order to block 94 apps engaged in unauthorised loan service has also been issued. These apps were being operated from offshore entities, including Chinese. They were posing a threat to the economic stability of the country,” the official told PTI.

The names of the blocked apps have not been disclosed at this time. According to reports, the decision to block these apps was based on the fact that they violated Section 69 of the IT Act, which prohibits the distribution of material that is prejudicial to the country’s integrity and sovereignty.

The reason behind the decision has been attributed to a steep rise in complaints of harassment and extortion from people who had taken small loans through these apps. Authorities believe that these loan apps are owned by Chinese companies that employ Indian nationals to manage operations on their behalf.

Investigations into the activities of these loan apps revealed that these apps were mostly preying on desperate individuals. These loans usually came with huge interest rates with some reports claiming that debtors were subject to rates as high as 3,000 per cent annually. Not surprisingly, most of these people defaulted on their interest payments and were subsequently subjected to harassment and extortion when unable to pay.

According to a report by ANI, the rise in cases of suicide in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana brought attention to the matter and prompted the state governments and central intelligence agencies to ask the Union home ministry to take action.

Additionally, the report said that an investigation by the ministry found that 94 of these apps were available on Google Play Store or the Apple App Store. Alarmingly, users could also easily access many of these apps through third-party links or websites.