Banned apps told to disclose location of centres, data collection method

NEW DELHI: The ministry of electronics and information technology (Meity) has sought details about their operations, data collection practices and locations of operational centres from the owners of short video sharing platform Tik Tok and 58 other applications, mostly of Chinese origin, that India banned last week, officials familiar with the development said.

A questionnaire seeking the details was sent by the ministry to the parent companies of the apps on Wednesday so that more information can be collated as a follow-up to the ban, which came amid border tensions between India and China.

“The emails have been sent to them so that we can collate and analyse more details about the operations of the applications,” a Meity official said on condition of anonymity. “This is a part of the process under the IT Act.”

The government banned mobile applications citing concerns that they were “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order” amid military tensions on the Line of Actual Control. Twenty Indian soldiers were killed in a violent brawl in Galwan valley in eastern Ladakh on June 15.

Information and technology minister Ravi Shanker Prasad called the ban a “digital strike” on China. The operators of the applications will also appear in front of a panel to make their case against the ban, officials said.

An executive at the operator of the apps said on condition of anonymity that they had been given three weeks to respond to the questionnaire. A Tik Tok spokesperson said the app’s operator was working to respond to the government “within the stipulated time frame.”

A QUESTIONNAIRE SEEKING THE DETAILS WAS SENT BY THE MINISTRY TO THE PARENT COMPANIES OF THE APPS