India walked back an order requiring smartphone companies to preinstall a government cybersecurity app, following widespread backlash.
Officials say the Sanchar Saathi app is aimed at curbing cyber fraud, but critics worried it could curtail privacy or allow for surveillance. Apple reportedly refused to comply with the directive.
New Delhi’s mandate would have lowered the threshold “for continuous government visibility into citizens’ digital lives,” a tech writer argued in The Hindu, and grouped India with other countries that tightly control digital platforms: Russia mandated a state messaging app be preinstalled on phones earlier this year.