New Delhi: The Central government has banned 14 mobile messaging applications, citing their use by terrorist groups, largely in Jammu and Kashmir, to communicate with their supporters and Over Ground Workers (OGW) and to receive instructions from Pakistan.
The banned apps include Crypviser, Enigma, Safeswiss, Wickrme, Mediafire, Briar, BChat, Nandbox, Conion, IMO, Element, Second Line, Zangi, and Threema.
These apps have been blocked under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, the official added.
The Centre’s big crackdown comes in the wake of security concerns over terrorists reportedly, using the messenger apps to spread anti-India messages and receive notifications from Pakistan. The action was taken on the recommendation of security and intelligence agencies.
The intelligence agencies prepared a list of apps that posed a threat to national security and do not follow Indian laws and informed the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) with a request to ban them.
Soon after the information was shared, the Ministry of Home Affairs in close coordination with the IT Ministry and other concerned agencies blocked them.
“Agencies keep track of channels used by Overground workers and terrorists to communicate among themselves. While tracking down one of the communication, agencies found that the mobile application does not have representatives in India, and it is difficult to track down activities happening on the app,” an official told news agency ANI, reports NDTV.
As per sources, the majority of these mobile applications are specially designed to maintain the anonymity of the users as well as their inbuilt features also make it difficult in finding out the entities associated with them.
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