New Delhi: The central government has banned at least 14 instant messaging apps, including Crypviser and Enigma, which were allegedly being used by terror groups, largely in Jammu and Kashmir, to communicate among themselves, sources told ThePrint.
Sources in the central government added that these apps were identified by intelligence agencies, following which the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) was advised to ban them.
“These apps have been blocked under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000,” the source said. This statute enables the government to direct online intermediaries, including Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and telecom service providers, among others, to block content or information which it deems a threat to national security.
The applications which have been banned include Germany-headquartered ‘encrypted chat app’ Crypviser, Enigma (developed by Incubeta UK), Switzerland-based SafeSwiss, Amazon Web Services-owned Wickr Me, US-headquartered MediaFire, Briar (an open source messaging app) and Canada-based nandbox.
“This is a routine affair. We keep identifying these apps that are being misused during our security review and ban them. This is also one such attempt to cut communication between terrorists and their handlers,” a source in the central government told ThePrint.
The government has previously, on several occasions, banned mobile applications citing a threat to national security and sovereignty.
These include a ban on over 200 apps, including popular Chinese applications such as TikTok, SHAREit, Mi Video Call, Club Factory and Cam Scanner.
In February this year too, the government had blocked as many as 138 betting and 94 loan apps.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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