Apple and Google removed many VPN apps from their app stores following government orders

There has been a crackdown on Virtual Private Network (VPN) apps in the country. Many VPN apps have been removed from American technology company Apple’s App Store and Google’s Play Store. Two years ago, the central government had made rules for VPN service providers to collect and store customer data.

After these rules, many VPN providers shut down their physical servers in the country. However, they are providing service to their customers. According to a report by TechCrunch. The Ministry of Home Affairs had issued an order to Google and Apple to remove many VPN apps from Play Store and App Store. TechCrunch has seen the document related to this order. The VPN apps removed from Apple and Google’s app stores include the app of American company Cloudflare. Apart from this, apps like X-VPN and PrivadoVPN have also been removed.

However, some VPN apps like Express VPN and Mullvad are available on Apple and Google’s app stores. Rules issued by the Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology two years ago stated that VPN service providers would have to collect and store the names, addresses, IP addresses and other contact details of their customers in the country for a period of five years. After this, many VPN service providers had said that they would not follow these rules and they had shut down their physical servers in the country. However, despite this, they are offering VPN service to customers in the country.

In the last few years, Google has faced increased difficulties in India. Recently, the company’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Sundar Pichai, was given a contempt notice by a Mumbai court for failing to remove a defamatory video on YouTube. This notice was issued on November 21 by the Chief Judicial Magistrate’s court in Ballard Pier, Mumbai. It said that YouTube had not complied with the order given in March last year to remove a defamatory video.

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