ISLAMABAD: New Delhi has banned Pakistan-based Vidly TV’s over-the-top (OTT) platform, apps and social media accounts in India because of historical events, the plight of minorities under the scourge of growing Hindutva and It is gaining popularity among Indians. population
The Indian government said it had blocked Vidly TV in the country for airing a web series against India’s national “security and integrity”.
India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has also banned the platform’s website, two mobile apps and four social media accounts, issuing an order under its emergency powers under the IT Rules 2021.
An Indian ministry official told JEE News that the government’s action against Pakistan-based Vidly TV came after the web series “Sevak: The Confessions”.
The OTT channel’s web series featured events like the Babri Masjid demolition in Ayodhya, Operation Blue Star, Malegaon blast, and the Samjhauta Express blast.
India bans most Chinese apps.
This is not the first time that New Delhi has banned apps from another country in India.
In June 2020, India blocked access to 59, mostly Chinese, mobile apps, including Bytedance’s TikTok, Alibaba’s UC Browser, and Tencent’s WeChat, citing security concerns.
The Ministry of Information Technology said at the time that the apps were “prejudicial to India’s sovereignty and integrity, India’s defence, state security and public order”.
The ban follows a deadly border standoff between the two nuclear-armed nations in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed.
In February this year, India blocked access to 54 more mobile apps, mainly Chinese but also Singapore-based C Ltd’s “Free Fire” mobile game, over security concerns.
Since the start of political tensions with China following a border standoff in 2020, India’s ban list, which initially contained 59 Chinese apps, including TikTok, has grown to cover 321 apps.
India believes user data was being sent through the apps to servers in China, one of the government sources, who asked not to be named in line with policy, told JEE News.
The source said such collection would allow data to be mined, collated, analyzed and profiled, potentially “for elements hostile to India’s sovereignty and integrity and for activities detrimental to national security”.
