India bans 47 more Chinese apps

New Delhi: The Indian government has banned 47 more Chinese-made apps over what it said was privacy, integrity and sovereignty issues.

Local media reported that the Indian government’s decision to ban the 47 more apps is due to suspicions they are  clones of the 59 applications which were earlier banned.

It was not immediately clear what apps were banned.

Earlier, Chinese companies such as TikTok-owner ByteDance have been asked by India to answer 77 questions about their apps that have been banned by New Delhi, including whether they censored content, worked on behalf of foreign governments or lobbied influencers.

In June, India banned the apps following a border clash between soldiers from the two countries, which left 20 Indian soldiers dead. India has said the apps pose a threat to its “sovereignty and integrity”.

China has criticised the ban.

India’s Information Technology Ministry has given the companies three weeks to respond to the questionnaire, which has been seen by Reuters, and said unspecified follow-up action would be taken.

The 59 banned apps include TikTok and Alibaba’s UC Browser

The app owners were asked whether they acted at the behest of any foreign government to edit, promote or demote any content.