As many as 266 mobile apps have been blocked by government so far since June last year (Representational)
New Delhi:
As many as 266 mobile apps have been blocked by the government so far since June last year, Lok Sabha was informed on Tuesday.
Union Minister of State for Home G Kishan Reddy also said the use of the banned apps by a large number of people in India enables compilation of huge data which might be collated, analysed, profiled and mined by elements that are hostile to the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of the State as well as to the public order, apart from being detrimental to the interest of the general public.
“Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has so far blocked 266 mobile apps since June, 2020 under the provisions of section 69 A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 on national security concerns,” he said in a written reply.
Though the minister did not specify the host countries of the apps, almost all blocked apps were of Chinese origin and the action has been taken following escalation of tension along the Sino-India border in Ladakh.
Mr Reddy said with the enhanced use of cyber space, number of cyber crimes, including online fraud is also increasing.
As per latest published data of the National Crime Records Bureau, as many as 3,466 cases of online frauds were registered in 2017, 3,353 cases in 2018 and 6,233 cases in 2019.
According to data available, 1,971, persons were arrested by law enforcement agencies in such cases in 2017, 1,778 people in 2018 and 2,542 people in 2019.