The Indian government has banned another 43 Chinese apps from operating in India. Fifteen of these apps are dating services.
With tensions between India and China rising on the border, the quantum of dating apps banned reflects that the government may be wary of Indian Army soldiers or officials being ‘honey trapped’.
Honey trapping is when agents from a foreign country pose a ‘pretty,young’ woman to seduce unsuspecting targets into inadvertently sharing confidential information.
The Indian government has banned another 43 Chinese apps from operating in India. This is the fourth tranche of mobile apps that have been shunned by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
India’s crackdown on Chinese apps has led to the ban of notable apps like the battle royale PlayersUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) and short video streaming app TikTok. However, this time around, more than one-third of the list consists of dating services.
As tensions continue to mount between the two countries along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Eastern Ladakh, it seems the government is addressing the threat of officers or soldiers being honey-trapped.
Full list of Chinese dating apps banned by the Indian government:
Soul- Follow the soul to find you
Chinese Social - Free Online Dating Video App & Chat
Date in Asia - Dating & Chat For Asian Singles
WeDate-Dating App
Free dating app-Singol, start your date!
Adore App
TrulyChinese - Chinese Dating App
TrulyAsian - Asian Dating App
ChinaLove: dating app for Chinese singles
DateMyAge: Chat, Meet, Date Mature Singles Online
AsianDate: find Asian singles
FlirtWish: chat with singles
Guys Only Dating: Gay Chat
First Love Live- super hot live beauties live online
Rela - Lesbian Social Network
What is a honey trap? The Army describes honey-trapping as a weapon of hybrid warfare waged by its enemies. In addition to being wary of women trying to flirt with them online, soldiers have also been asked to not post photos on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram while in uniform or alongside military equipment, installations and cantonments in the backdrop.
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Using online dating services, like the ones which have been banned, spies pose as ‘pretty, young women’ liking a soldier’s post on social media, according to the Indian Army. After some light conversation, the woman normally starts asking for more photos of guns, tanks, and other weaponry.
The problem intensifies when the conversation moves from the dating app to direct messages and WhatsApp chats. With confidential or sensitive information in hand, these agents then try to blackmail the ‘honey-trapped’ soldier into divulging defence secrets. In the past, this has been the strategy used by the operatives of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI).
A prominent example is of a lady who called herself
Anika Chopra. She posed as an Army Captain at the Military Nursing Corps online, managing to trap at least 50 jawans in the Indian Army. In another case, a soldier in training from Rohtak was found to have
shared multiple pictures from at least 18 different Army Recruitment Centres.
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