Union Government Bans 232 Chinese Betting and Loan Apps

MEITY Issues Blocking Orders on Emergency Request by Home Ministry

The Union Ministry of Electronics and IT (MEITY) has issued blocking orders for 232 unlicensed and illegal apps. Most of the apps have links to China. The move targets 138 betting or gambling apps and 94 loan lending apps. The action taken is based on Section 69(A) of the IT Act for money laundering. Authorities deemed  these apps to be a threat to the financial security of the nation. Read more: Government bans 232 Chinese apps.

Authorities initiated the ban procedure in early February. The nodal officer at the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) initiated the procedure at an emergency request. The investigation started six months earlier against 28 apps.

This is not the first major crackdown on illegal Chinese apps by the Central Government. In 2020,  authorities blocked a total of 267 apps in four consecutive actions in June, August, September, and November. During the next year the authorities banned 54 more Chinese apps.

What Apps were Banned Now

Reports indicate that users could find 94 of the banned unlicensed apps on e-Stores, while others were available through independent third-party links or directly on websites or social media platforms.

Chinese nationals typically stood behind the apps. However, the operations were ran by Indian directors.

Desperate individuals easily fell for loans from one of these apps. Soon, the person would find the interest on their loan climbing up, in cases reaching 3,000 percent per annum.

Any failure to pay the abnormal interest led to harassment, including lewd messages and threats to expose their debt status to friends and family, or send distorted photos.

Bans Issued on the Background of Gaming Regulation Development

The blocking orders for the illegal betting and loan lending apps were issued on the backdrop of closed-door consultations held by MeitY with online gaming industry stakeholders over proposed amendments to the IT Rules, 2021 aimed to regulate the sector, which introduce legal definitions of “online gaming” and “online gaming intermediary” and provide for the creation of “self-regulatory organizations” (SROs).

Earlier, MeitY was appointed as the nodal ministry for online gaming via an amendment to the Allocation of Business Rules. The Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports in the face of its Sports Department became the nodal ministry for “e-Sports as part of multi-sports events”.