Amid rising complaints against mobile apps, the Centre has identified and blocked 348 apps developed by various countries, including China, for allegedly collecting user information for profiling citizens and transmitting it overseas in an unauthorised manner, the Parliament was told on Wednesday.

“The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has identified 348 mobile applications which were collecting users’ information and transmitting it in an unauthorised manner to servers located outside the country for profiling.

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Based on the request from MHA, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has blocked those 348 mobile applications since such data transmissions infringes the sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India and security of the state,” Minister of State for Electronics & Information Technology, Rajeev Chandrasekhar told the Lok Sabha in a written reply.

These apps are developed by various countries including China, he added.