Goverment of India
Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology
Press Release
Government Blocks 118 Mobile Apps Which are Prejudicial to Sovereignty and
Integrity of India, Defence of India, Security of State and Public Order
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India
invoking it’s power under section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with the
relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for
Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009 and in view of the emergent
nature of threats has decided to block 118mobile apps (see Appendix) since in view
of information available they are engaged in activities which is prejudicial to
sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has received many
complaints from various sources including several reports about misuse of some
mobile apps available on Android and iQ§ platforms for stealing and surreptitiously
transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized 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 Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs nas
also sent an exhaustive recommendation for blocking these malicious apps,,
Likewise, there have been similar bipartisan concerns, flagged by various public
representatives, both outside and inside the Parliament of India. 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 surreptitious manner and compromise personal data and
information of users that can have a severe threat to security of the State.
Inthe Jnterest af sovereignty and integrity af India. defence of India and
secuuty.ef the State, And using the sovereign powers, the Government of India has
decided to block the usage of certain Apps, used in both mobile and non-mobile
Internet enabled devices. These apps are listed in the attached appendix.
This move will safeguard the interests of grares of Indian mobile and internet
users. This decision is a targeted move to ensure safety, security and sovereignty of
Indian cyberspace.
