Defence ministry orders troops to immediately delete 40 Chinese apps

The Indian Government has directed all troops deployed along the Indo-China border to delete 40 apps on their smartphones. All these are Chinese apps and taking into account the threat perception, these apps have been ordered to be deleted.

The Defence Ministry directed the troops to delete these apps as their servers are in China. The advisory was issued as China would be able to track the troops through these apps. This advisory is also important since China could on the basis of these apps track the deployment of the forces as well. This directive comes in the wake of Indian Security Agencies insisting on specific clearance for Chinese telecom products.

Some companies such as ZTE and Huawei have not been allowed to be installed in the bordering areas. The agencies said that these products have their master servers in China and hence should not be used especially in the bordering areas. Some of the apps that have been ordered to be deleted are Weibo, Wechat, Beautyplus, Nes Dog, CM Browser, MI Community, DU Privacy and Selfie City, Mail Master and MI Video call-Xiaomi.