Join 'clean network': US urges countries after India bans 118 Chinese apps

Openly supporting India's move to ban 118 mobile apps, the United States on Wednesday called on all freedom-loving countries and companies to join "the clean network."

"India has already banned 100 plus Chinese apps. We call on all freedom-loving nations and companies to join The Clean Network," said US State Department quoting Keith Krach, US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and the Environment.

Krach's remark comes after Indian government blocked 118 more mobile apps in view of the information available that they are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity, defence and security of India and public order.

Earlier this year, the Trump Administration rolled out the Clean Network program, a comprehensive approach to guarding its citizens' privacy and its companies' most sensitive information from aggressive intrusions by malign actors, such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Nearly two months ago India had banned 59 China-linked apps amid the ongoing border tensions with China in eastern Ladakh.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said in a release that the decision "is a targeted move" to ensure safety, security and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace.

The ministry said it has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about the misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users' data in an unauthorised manner to servers which have locations outside India.

The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures, the MeitY added.

It said there has been a strong chorus in the public space to take strict action against apps that harm India's sovereignty as well as the privacy of our citizens.

"On the basis of these and upon receiving of recent credible inputs that information posted, permissions sought, functionality embedded as well as data harvesting practices of above-stated Apps raise serious concerns that these Apps collect and share data in a surreptitious manner and compromise personal data and information of users that can have a severe threat to security of the State," it said.