Indian government orders Google to immediately remove Chinese app 'Ablo' from Play Store

The Government of India has directed that the Chinese video calling app 'Ablo' is to be withdrawn from the Play Store. The primary basis for this is that the map of India was misrepresented, in which the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh were shown incorrectly, while that of the Lakshadweep Islands was left off entirely. The Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) and Survey of India (Survey of India) served notice to the app by stating that such misrepresentation is harmful to India's sovereignty and integrity.

The notice referred to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act of 1990 as well as Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which requires online platforms to delete objectionable material violating Indian law. At the time of issuance of a notice, the Ablo app was available on the Google Play Store but had been previously deleted from Apple's App Store.

Ablo was a social video chat app developed by the Belgian company MassiveMedia. The company was later bought by Match Group, which also owns popular dating apps like Tinder and OkCupid. The app offered an opportunity to connect with people around the world through video calls and instant messaging.