India’s PM Modi quits Chinese social media platform Weibo

NEW DELHI, Jul 1, 2020, Financial Express. Prime Minister Narendra Modi deactivated his account on Chinese social media platform Weibo on Wednesday barely two days after the mobile application was banned alongwith 58 other apps by the Government of India, reports said. ANI quoted sources as saying that the decision was taken soon after India disallowed the 59 Chinese apps, Financial Express reported.

PM Modi had joined Weibo a few years back and had so far shared 115 posts on the app. The ANI report added that Weibo has a complicated procedure for removal of VIP accounts, and that is why the official process was initiated.

There was a delay from the Chinese app’s side in approval of the request to remove the account, the sources further stated. Hence, the posts were manually deleted from Weibo, the ANI report added.

The Government of India had on Monday decided to ban 59 apps with links to China. Talking about the reason behind the move, the government order stated that this was done to ensure safety and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace.

The ban followed on the heels of an advisory being issued by the intelligence agencies regarding privacy concerns with over 50 apps with origins in China. Reports stated that the red flags raised by the intelligence agencies pertained largely with the collection of user data by the Chinese apps and their practice of sending this data to locations outside the boundaries of India.

After the standoff and clashes between the Indian and Chinese troops in Ladakh, there has been a growing demand for boycotting Chinese goods from across the country. Also, in this anti-China sentiment, many voices were being raised against these Chinese apps. The government statement informing of the ban of Chinese apps acknowledged this, and said that there’s been a “strong chorus in the public space to take strict action against Apps that harm India’s sovereignty as well as the privacy of our citizens.”