Le conflit entre la Chine et l’Inde prend une tournure numérique

L’actu

La rumeur d’un boycottage des produits chinois planait depuis une bonne dizaine de jours en Inde. Elle s’est concrétisée, lundi 29 juin, en début de soirée, avec l’annonce par le ministère indien des technologies de l’information du blocage de 59 applications mobiles originaires de Chine, parmi lesquelles les plates-formes d’échange de vidéos TikTok et Helo, le service de messagerie WeChat (souvent comparé à WhatsApp), le réseau social Weibo (l’équivalent chinois de Twitter), l’outil de partage de fichiers SHAREit ou le navigateur UC Browser du groupe Alibaba. Lire l’article du Monde

La conséquence

Two days after India blocked 59 apps developed by Chinese firms, Google and Apple have started to comply with New Delhi’s order and are preventing users in the world’s second-largest internet market from accessing those apps. UC Browser, Shareit, and Club Factory and other apps that India has blocked are no longer listed on Apple’s  App Store and Google  Play Store. In a statement, a Google spokesperson said that the company had “temporarily blocked access to the apps” on Google Play Store as it reviews New Delhi’s interim order. Lire l’article de Techcrunch

L’éclairage

« I think the Indian government was looking for ways to respond to Chinese provocations at the LAC (Line of Actual Control) and they settled on hitting China in the technology sector, where there were already mounting concerns about Chinese espionage and national security threats » , Jeff Smith, South Asia Research Fellow at the prestigious Heritage Institute think-tank said. Lire l’article du Times of India

La réaction politique

Zhao Lijian, a spokesperson for China’s Foreign Ministry, told reporters on Tuesday that the government was « strongly concerned » about the ban. He said that authorities were still « checking and verifying information on the situation, » but added that it was India’s responsibility to « uphold the legitimate rights of international investors. » Lire l’article de CNN

La réaction numérique

India’s TikTok influencers are urging their fans to follow them on other social media platforms after the government announced a ban on the popular video-sharing app. As news of the ban came into effect Monday night, TikTok creators began to post videos with their Instagram handles and YouTube links. Actress Shraddha Arya deleted all her TikTok posts except for one listing her Instagram and Facebook handle. Some creators even posted videos about how to use Instagram. Lire l’article de CNN

La question

Could the ban be overturned by the government? And if not, can these 59 app companies approach Indian law courts? Experts point out that it is incredibly rare to see bans under Section 69A of the IT Act being overturned by the committee at the first instance, although there have been some cases where the blocking orders are reconsidered and overturned after some time. Lire l’article de The Quint

Le décryptage

U.S. internet giants have been locked out of China for years. Increasingly, Chinese apps may find themselves locked out of the rest of the world. China is at the receiving end of something it’s more used to handing out: a ban on popular software. The latest Indian salvo may not wreak much immediate financial havoc, but deals a blow to the overseas ambitions of Chinese internet companies. Lire l’article du Wall Street Journal

L’analyse

The global internet is fracturing. TikTok, the first Chinese internet service to have a truly global fan base, is rapidly falling victim to China’s worsening diplomatic relations around the globe. It is yet another sign that the digital world, once thought of as a unifying space that transcended old divisions, is being carved up along the same national lines that split the physical one. Lire l’article du New York Times