Should the Government Explain Why Chinese Apps Have Been Banned?

On this episode of Orbital, tech lawyer Mishi Choudhary joins host Pranay Parab to discuss various aspects of the China app ban in India. We begin this episode by talking about the apps that were banned around a month ago and whether the government is allowed to ban these apps by law. Mishi explains how the government bans both websites and apps, and why the government need not explain the reasons behind these bans. We then discuss the implications of this lack of transparency and wonder whether there is an alternative to the current reality.

We also talk about the rumours that have been circulating around other Chinese apps being banned, with PUBG Mobile being the most prominent name in this part of the discussion. We then mention why there’s a big gap between tech innovation and regulation, and how that gap can be fixed. The discussion then moves to the fact that geopolitical issues are influencing our daily lives more so now than ever, as evidenced by the China app ban. We also talk about the fact that Chinese firms have had free access to world markets until now, whereas non-Chinese companies couldn’t easily set up shop for business in China, and discuss how this could be changing right in front of our eyes. 

Finally we talk about how the discussion around the China app ban needs to move beyond jingoism.

That’s all for this week’s episode of Orbital, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.