Finance
On the instructions of the Union Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has begun the process of banning 138 betting apps and 94 lending apps with Chinese links, in response to repeated complaints about Chinese loan and betting apps (MHA).
According to the information, the MHA recently directed the MeitY to prohibit such apps that operate via a third-party link.
According to sources, all of these apps were found to be in violation of Section 69 of the IT Act and to contain material that posed a threat to India’s sovereignty and integrity.
According to sources, these apps are used to trap financially strapped people in a debt trap by increasing loan interest rates by up to 3,000%.
Many of these people committed suicide after being mentally harassed by the people working for the apps.
The issue came to light after several cases of suicides by app users were reported in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana.
On the other hand, because they have access to important data for many Indians, Chinese apps have the potential to abuse server-side security by using them as spying tools.
Access to such data can be used for large-scale espionage, so all such apps are regarded as a threat to the country.
The MHA began looking into some Chinese loan-giving apps about six months ago.
It was revealed that there were 94 such apps available on the e-store and operated through third party links.
Around that time, security agencies requested that the Ministry prohibit such betting and loan lending apps.
Notably, the Centre had banned 54 Chinese apps that posed a security risk to the country in 2022.
Source:OCN
