Stricter Laws not Knee-jerk Bans Needed To Ensure Data Privacy

Anish Dasgupta

September 5, 2020

TikTok, WeChat, UC Browser and now PUBG. The Indian government has banned another 118 apps on September 2, linked to China, after the recent ban on 59 China based apps in June and another 47 in July. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has cited privacy and cybersecurity reasons including risks of data being misused. This ban was imposed by invoking Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. However, analysts hold the view that if these apps were required by law to use servers located within India, it would solve the issue of illegal transmission of users’ data. The manner in which the government has used Section 69A has drawn criticism from the public. It is obviously not a coincidence that these bans have been imposed ever since border tensions with China have risen, even though the Indian government has not explicitly said so.

Abridged fromFinancial Express