Govt Blocks 14 Mobile Messenger Apps Over Security Concerns

The Centre has blocked 14 mobile messenger apps in India due to security concerns as the apps were reportedly being used by terrorist groups in Jammu & Kashmir.

The over ground workers (OGWs) of various terrorist groups were using these mobile messenger apps, designed to provide anonymity to users, to receive messages from Pakistan and spread them, sources aware of the matter told ANI. 

The Centre has blocked the apps under Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act, 2000.

The development comes at a time when the government has cracked down on several other apps in the country associated with activities such as lending and betting. Besides, it has also blocked several URLs, channels, pages, and websites for their alleged connections with anti-state activities.

Sources told News18 that Enigma, Crypviser, Safeswiss, Mediafire, BChat, Wickrme, Nandbox, IMO, Element, Zangi, and Threema are among the 14 mobile messenger apps that have been blocked.

The New18 report, citing sources, said it came to the government’s notice that these apps did not have representatives and offices in India. Intelligence and investigation agencies failed to contact these companies while seeking information. 

ANI reported that the Centre decided to block these apps based on inputs from intelligence agencies who found that the OGWs used these messaging platforms to further their activities in Jammu & Kashmir and other places in the country.

The government has increased its focus on the digital arena in the last few years to clamp down on illegal and harmful apps and websites. Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw informed the Lok Sabha in March that the Indian government gave directions to block 30,310 URLs in total during 2018 to March 15, 2023 period under the Section 69A of the IT Act.

After India’s crackdown on over 200 Chinese lending apps earlier this year, MoS for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar said that the government’s ban on the apps was not based on their countries of origin but on illegality, user harm, and criminality they demonstrated. 

Meanwhile, the government is also planning to come out with the Digital India Bill, which would replace the IT Act, 2000 under which it has the power to issue orders to block online content,  to make the “internet open, safe, and trusted”.