India to block over 230 betting and loan apps, many with China ties • TechCrunch

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India is transferring to dam 232 apps, some with hyperlinks to China, that provide betting and mortgage companies within the South Asian market to stop misuse of the residents’ information, the state-owned public broadcaster said Sunday.

The Ministry of Electronics and Info Expertise is within the course of to implement an emergency order to ban 138 betting and playing apps and one other 94 that offered unauthorized mortgage companies within the curiosity of defending the nation’s integrity, the broadcaster mentioned.

The ministry’s transfer was prompted on the course of the Ministry of Dwelling Affairs, Prasar Bharti added. The apps sought to mislead prospects into taking massive money owed with out realizing the phrases and there have been issues that they might be used as instruments for espionage and propaganda.

Sunday’s step is the newest in a collection of presidency efforts to crack down on shark mortgage apps and different companies which are posing a risk to the nation’s residents.

The Reserve Financial institution of India introduced stringent rules for digital lending firms final final yr, recommending corporations present extra transparency and management to prospects.

Based on the brand new guidelines, lenders will not be permitted to extend a buyer’s credit score restrict with out acquiring their consent and are required to reveal the annual mortgage charge in specific phrases. Digital lending apps are additionally mandated to take prior specific consent from prospects earlier than accumulating any information and all such requests needs to be “need-based.”

India has additionally blocked over 300 apps with links to China in recent times to guard the nation’s sovereignty and integrity. New Delhi banned Tencent’s Xriver, Garena’s Free Hearth, NetEase’s Onmyoji Area and Astracraft and 50 extra apps with obvious hyperlinks to China early final yr. The Indian authorities additionally banned dozens of apps together with ByteDance’s TikTok, Xiaomi’s Group and Video Name apps and Alibaba Group’s UC Browser and UC Information in mid-2020 amid geopolitical tensions between the 2 neighboring international locations.

New Delhi has by no means particularly mentioned that it’s taking actions on apps from any specific nation.

Brendan Carr, the senior Republican on the Federal Communications Fee, nonetheless praised India’s blocking of TikTok and different apps final month, saying the nation set an “incredibly important precedent” by banning the ByteDance app.

Carr warned that TikTok “operates as a complicated surveillance software” and located that banning the social app was a “pure subsequent step in our efforts to safe communication community.” Carr mentioned he was frightened that China may use delicate and personal information gleaned from TikTok for “blackmail, espionage, international affect campaigns and surveillance.”

“We have to comply with India’s lead extra broadly to weed out different nefarious apps as effectively,” he added.



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