App Ban Continues: India Issues Orders To Block Chinese Twitter And Google Rip-Offs Weibo And Baidu

In the continued pursuit to block the operations of Chinese applications posing national security challenges and threats, India has blocked Baidu Search and Weibo, which are among the most influential Chinese applications, reports Times of India.

The two applications are often called Chinese copy-cat answers to Google's search engine and social media platform Twitter. The Government has issued the orders for not just their apps to be taken off from Google and Apple's app stores, but for the internet service providers (ISPs) to block them.

Launched in 2009, Weibo boasts of over 500 million registered users globally. Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi had also emerged as one of its star users after he had created an account on the platform prior to his visit to China in 2015. However, with tensions reaching multi-decadal high amid the ongoing border dispute along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), PM Modi quit the platform.

India has already blocked a broad array of widely used Chinese applications like TikTok, Helo, UC Browser, WeChat, CamScnner, Club Factory among several others. In furtherance of the same, it is expected that many more applications of Chinese origin may be blocked by the government in the coming days.