Indian Government bans Garena Free Fire, 53 more China-linked apps

The Indian government has banned 54 additional smartphone apps that may have originated in China. This looks to be the first batch of applications to be banned by the government in 2022, following a total of 270 app bans since 2020. While there is no official list of the applications that have been prohibited, media sources from ET Now and ANI have revealed that the government has blacklisted 54 additional apps.

Sweet Selfie HD, Beauty Camera, Viva Video Editor, AppLock, and Dual Space Lite, among the newest restricted applications, are clones or rebrands of many of the over 300 Beijing-affiliated apps that New Delhi has blocked since mid-2020 amid growing geopolitical tensions over a long-running border dispute.

According to a source acquainted with the situation, the South Asian nation’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued the decision, citing Section 69a of the IT Act, 2000.

According to sources, the Ministry of Home Affairs has suggested that 54 Chinese mobile applications be banned because they constitute a security risk to the country. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) will issue an official notification prohibiting certain applications from operating in India.

Apart from Free Fire, the latest list of restricted applications largely consists of clones of previously banned apps in India.

According to analytics company App Annie, which an industry official shared with TechCrunch, the Southeast Asian major Sea-owned battle royale game had over 40 million of its 75 million worldwide monthly active players in India in January. Tencent is one of Sea’s biggest sponsors, and the company is secretly testing its social commerce Shopee in India.

Garena’s crew in India was taken aback by the announcement of the ban. According to a source familiar with the situation, the company was looking for partnerships with tournament organisations to help market their game and attract more users and high-profile players in the nation. Sea was unavailable for comment at the time of publication.

The Indian government previously banned several popular applications, including TikTok and PUBG Mobile. While PUBG Mobile has made a comeback in India because of Krafton opening a new office and severing relations with its Chinese partners, TikTok has not been so fortunate and remains banned in the nation. Fake copies, including those from China, are claimed to be on the new list of restricted apps.

Full list of 54 Chinese apps banned by the Indian government in February 2022:

1 Beauty Camera: Sweet Selfie HD

2 Beauty Camera – Selfie Camera

3 CamCard for SalesForce Ent

4 Equalizer — Bass Booster & Volume EQ & Virtualizer

5 Equalizer & Bass Booster – Music Volume EQ

6 Music Plus – MP3 Player

7Equalizer Pro – Volume Booster & Bass Booster

8 Video Player Media All Format

9 Music Player – Equalizer & MP3

10 Volume Booster – Loud Speaker & Sound Booster

11 Music Player – MP3 Player

12 Music Player- Music, Mp3 Player

13 Isoland 2: Ashes of Time Lite

14 Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade

15 APUS Security HD (Pad Version)

16 Parallel Space Lite 32 Support

17 Viva Video Editor – Snack Video Maker with Music

18 Nice video Baidu

19 Tencent Xriver

20 Onmyoji Chess

21 Onmyoji Arena

22 AppLock

23 Dual Space Lite – Multiple Accounts & Clone App

24 Dual Space Pro – Multiple Accounts & App Cloner

25 DualSpace Lite – 32Bit Support

26 Dual Space – 32Bit Support

27 Dual Space – 64Bit Support

28 Dual Space Pro – 32Bit Support

29 Conquer Online – MMORPG Game

30 Conquer Online Il

31 Live Weather & Radar – Alerts

32 Notes- Color Notepad, Notebook

33 MP3 Cutter – Ringtone Maker & Audio Cutter

34 Voice Recorder & Voice Changer

35 Barcode Scanner – QR Code Scan

36 Lica Cam – selfie camera app

37 EVE Echoes

38 Astracraft

39 U Game Booster-network solution for high ping

40 Extraordinary Ones

41 Badlanders

42 Stick Fight: The Game Mobile

43 Twilight Pioneers

44 Cute: Match With The World

45 SmallWorld-Enjoy group chat and video chat

46 CuteU Pro

47 FancyU – Video Chat & Meetup

48 FancyU pro – Instant Meetup through Video

49 MoonChat: Enjoy Video Chats

50 RealU Lite -video to live!

51 RealU: Go Live, Make Friends

51 Wink: Connect Now

52 FunChat Meet People Around You

54. Garena Free Fire- Illuminate