MeitY has blocked 224 mobile apps in interest of national security: Dhotre

"The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has blocked 224 mobile applications, including TikTok, Helo and WeChat under the provisions of section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India and security of State," Minister of State for Electronics and IT Sanjay Dhotre said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

The IT ministry has blocked 224 mobile apps in the interest of national security and sovereignty, Parliament was informed on Wednesday. "The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has blocked 224 mobile applications, including TikTok, Helo, and WeChat under the provisions of section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India and security of State," Minister of State for Electronics and IT Sanjay Dhotre said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.

He said these apps have been blocked on national security concerns and thus "linkage with any country may not be disclosed in the public domain". In response to another question, Dhotre said the blocking of apps for public access is a dynamic process. In June, the government had banned 59 Chinese applications, including TikTok, UC Browser, SHAREit, WeChat, CamScanner, and Mi Community. Earlier this month, 118 more mobile apps, including popular gaming app PUBG, were banned.