UP STF ordered employees to remove these 52 Chinese apps from their phones immediately

Lucknow, Ta. 19 June 2020, Friday

The Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force has issued a confidential letter instructing all its employees to remove Chinese applications from their phones. The STF has released an internal letter asking to uninstall 52 Chinese apps as soon as possible as it is most likely to steal data.

STF IG Amitabh Yash has ordered removal of 52 Chinese apps from mobiles. The order has been issued by the STF following the guidelines of the Union Home Ministry and STF employees as well as their families have been asked to remove the apps. These apps have shown the possibility of personal and other data theft.

Indian intelligence agencies have provided the government with a list of 52 apps linked to China. The list was compiled in April and includes apps like TikTok, Zoom, UC Browser, WeChat, Virus Cleaner etc. which are very popular in India. It also includes video apps from mobile companies like Vivo, Bigo Live, UC News, Hello, etc. and was demanded to be blocked.

Chinese apps on the radar of agencies

- TikTok, Vault-Hide, Vigo Video, Bigo Live, Weibo

- WeChat, SHAREit, UC News, UC Browser

- BeautyPlus, Xender, ClubFactory, Helo, LIKE

- Kwai, ROMWE, SHEIN, NewsDog, Photo Wonder

- APUS Browser, VivaVideo- QU Video Inc

- Perfect Corp, CM Browser, Virus Cleaner (Hi Security Lab)

- Mi Community, DU recorder, YouCam Makeup

- Mi Store, 360 Security, DU Battery Saver, DU Browser

- DU Cleaner, DU Privacy, Clean Master - Cheetah

- CacheClear DU apps studio, Baidu Translate, Baidu Map

- Wonder Camera, ES File Explorer, QQ International

- QQ Launcher, QQ Security Center, QQ Player, QQ Music

- QQ Mail, QQ NewsFeed, WeSync, SelfieCity, Clash of Kings

- Mail Master, My Video Call-Xiaomi, Parallel Space

However, no official statement has been issued by the government regarding blocking or not using these apps. Millions of people in India use these apps and privacy is being cited as the reason behind their protest. Chinese apps have repeatedly been accused of sending data from Indian users to Chinese servers.

The list also includes five video sharing apps, and most Chinese smartphone companies offer one of those apps on their smartphones. Apart from that some e-commerce apps are also included.