NEW DELHI (Reuters) – India on Wednesday banned another 118 mobile apps including Tencent Holdings’ popular videogame PUBG, as it stepped up the pressure on Chinese technology companies following a standoff with Beijing at the border.
The list of 118 mostly Chinese apps also includes applications from Baidu and Xiaomi’s ShareSave.
The ban was announced a day after a senior Indian official said troops were deployed on four strategic hilltops after what New Delhi called an attempted Chinese incursion along a disputed Himalayan border.
Tencent declined to comment on the announcement and the Chinese embassy in New Delhi did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
India’s technology ministry said the apps were a threat to India’s sovereignty and security.
These “apps collect and share data in a surreptitious manner and compromise personal data and information of users that can have a severe threat to the security of the state,” the ministry said in a statement.