Editor's Pick: Battle royale with apps

The Hindu Newsletter - Government bans PUBG, WeChat Work, 116 other mobile apps [The Hindu Logo]( [Facebook]( [Twitter]( [Youtube]( [Linkedin]( [Instagram]( Thursday 03, September 2020 [alt_text]( Editor's Pick [Battle royale with apps]( [alt_text]( (The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.) [The Centre has banned 118 apps](, a majority of which are of Chinese origin, citing national security issues. This comes amid a [border standoff with China](, and nearly three months after the ban on [59 other Chinese-origin apps](. The current tranche includes the mobile phone battle royale game PUBG, which is hugely popular in India with reportedly 40 million active users from the country. While the number of apps banned may be higher, in terms of impact the current lot does not match up to the earlier ban. The ban in June involved apps such as TikTok, SHAREit, and UCBrowser which have much larger user bases. However, across both bans, the economic impact may be limited as revenues from India for Chinese big tech such as ByteDance and TenCent are muted. The impact will be on any ambitions these companies have of projecting themselves as global players. Technology as a terrain of reciprocation against China is being used not just by India, but also by the U.S. TikTok is facing takeover threats under U.S. President Donald Trump's orders. It may not alter the Chinese government's geopolitical calculations, but the high visibility of this strategy and its immediate [impact on millions of mobile phone users]( is what makes this story important. The Big Story [Question Hour dropped in Lok Sabha schedule of monsoon session]( [alt_text]( From the Front Page [alt_text]( [Ladakh standoff | India-China talks at Chushul remain inconclusive]( [alt_text]( [Dushyant Dave says he was ‘prevented’ from speaking at Justice Mishra farewell ceremony]( From The Opinion Pages [alt_text]( [A guide to flattening the curve of economic chaos]( [alt_text]( [Victory in a long battle for equal opportunities]( Today's Editorials [Grim Sovereign Tangle: On GST co]( [Dissent and detention: On Dr. Ka]( You are receiving this email because you are a user of [thehindu.com]( If you do not wish to receive any such emails, [unsubscribe here.](mailto:rm-0b4ug4tbbf2f90kaup33rtbysa8hk0e@newsalert.thehindu.com?subject=Unsubscribe&body=You will be unsubscribed from our mailing list.) To ensure you continue to receive emails from The Hindu in your inbox, please add newsletters.th@newsalert.thehindu.com to your contact. If you can't see the mailer, please [click here.]( Group Sites [The Hindu]( | [இந்து தமிழ் திசை]( | [Business Line]( | [BL on Campus]( | [Sportstar]( | [Frontline]( | [The Hindu Centre]( | [Images]( | [roofandfloor]( | [Classifieds]( Copyright @ 2020 ,THG PUBLISHING PVT LTD. [About Us]( | [Contact Us]( | [Digital Subscription](