Zili, Snack Video, Resso Among Few Which Escaped Chinese Apps Ban

• Several Chinese apps like Snack Video, Zili, and Resso are among the country’s top 100 free Android apps that escaped the ban.

Several Chinese apps like Snack Video, Zili, and Resso are among the country’s top 100 free Android apps that escaped the ban, even as on Wednesday the government barred 118 more Chinese apps.

Snack Video is a Singapore-based app viewed as an alternative to TikTok and whose parent, Kuaishou Technology, is a successful Chinese software company backed by Tencent, a Chinese internet conglomerate. It’s the top free app on Google Play Store charts right now and has been so since the first package of Chinese apps was blocked late in June for several weeks.

Zili, an app that is owned by Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi for short-videos and funny sketches, is also among the top 100 on the Play Store not to have faced a ban. In July, ET reported that Zili was among 275 Chinese apps under government scrutiny for alleged breaches of national security and user privacy.

The music-streaming app from TikTok owner ByteDance Resso, another Chinese app in the top 100 at the moment, was also part of the list but has not yet been banned from app stores. According to the latest data from Sensor Tower shared with ET, Resso generated 1.4 million downloads in India in July and picked up another 1.5 million in Aug.

Yesterday, India’s Information and Technology Ministry (MeitY) has released yet another list ordering a ban on PUBG & other 117 Apps amid border tensions.

This is the third time the Indian Government has released a list targeting Chinese companies’ mobile apps. The first report came out on June 29, following the skirmish in the Galwan Valley, which left 20 Indian soldiers dead and an unknown number of Chinese casualties. This included the famous TikTok, UC Browser, Xiaomi’s Mi Group, and 56 other short video streaming apps.

In July, another list of 47 Chinese apps was released to ban programs that tried to clone the apps banned in the first iteration.

Many were left asking why Tencent’s game of hugely popular battle area multiplayer, PUBG, was allowed to stay on the docket. Now, after the incursion into the Pangong Tso Lake valley, India’s third ban on Chinese apps will not only delete PUBG from India but will also delete another 117 apps like Baidu, Alipay, WeChat Job, and Valor Field.