No proposal with IT Ministry to revoke ban on Chinese apps: Union Govt

New Delhi: Union government on Wednesday informed Lok Sabha that there is no proposal to revoke the ban imposed by the government on Chinese mobile applications such as TikTok and PUBG

In response to a starred question on whether the government proposes to restart the use of Chinese applications in the country that had been banned earlier, Minister for Electronics and IT Ashwini Vaishnaw replied that there is no proposal with the Ministry to revoke the blocking orders.

The government last year banned a number of Chinese apps, including TikTok, PUBG and AliExpress for being prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and defence of the nation.

Vaishnaw, in his response to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday, said the government has notified the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 under IT Act, 2000, on February 25, 2021.

To a question on whether the continuous transmission of obscene materials through phone can be checked by the recently made rules/law for regulating web series, the Minister said Part-III of these Rules provide that a Code of Ethics is followed by publishers of news and current affairs on digital media and publishers of online curated content (commonly known as OTT Platforms).

These also include a three-level grievance redressal mechanism consisting of the publisher (Level-I), a self-regulating body constituted by the publishers (Level-II) and an oversight mechanism of the Government (Level-III), with time-bound grievance disposal mechanism, he added.

The Minister noted that Part-III of these Rules also provide for the furnishing of information by the publishers to the Government and periodic disclosure of information regarding grievance redressal in the public domain.