Government To Ban 138 Gambling Apps, 94 Loan Apps With Links To China

NEW DELHI, Feb 5: The Indian government has started the process of ‘urgently’ banning and disabling 94 lending applications and approximately 138 betting apps that have connections to China.

The Union Home Ministry sent the communication to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

The Union Home Ministry began examining 28 Chinese credit lending apps six months ago. However, it was found that 94 apps are accessible through online storefronts, while others function via links from third parties.

Telangana, Odisha and Uttar Pradesh, alongwith central intelligence agencies had asked the Home Ministry to take action against such apps.
The action has been initiated after confirming that these apps attract Section 69 of the IT Act as they contain “material which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India”
The report claims that while some smartphone apps are no longer available for download, gambling apps and games can still be found online and downloaded via independent links or websites. Some of these also accept payment in cryptocurrency.

According to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s (MIB) advisory, since gambling and betting are prohibited in the majority of the nation’s jurisdictions, advertisements for these betting platforms and their substitutes are also unlawful under the terms of the Consumer Protection Act of 2019, the Cable TV Network Regulation Act of 1995, and the Information Technology Rules of 2021.