More than half a dozen VPN apps, including Cloudflare’s widely used 1.1.1.1, have been removed from India’s Apple App Store and Google Play Store following intervention by government authorities, britcommerce has learned.
India’s Home Ministry issued takedown orders for the apps, according to a document reviewed by britcommerce and a disclosure made by Google to Lumen, the Harvard University database that tracks government takedown requests globally. .
Among the affected applications are Hide.me and PrivadoVPN. In communication with one of the affected developers, seen by britcommerce, Apple cited a “complaint” from India’s Cybercrime Coordination Center, part of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which found the developer’s content to be in contravention of Indian law.
The ministry, as well as Apple, Google and Cloudflare, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
This enforcement action marks the first significant implementation of India’s 2022 regulatory framework governing VPN applications. The rules require VPN providers and cloud service operators to maintain complete records of their customers, including names, addresses, IP addresses and transaction histories, for a period of five years.
The strict requirements provoked a reaction from major industry players. Leading brands such as NordVPN, ExpressVPN, SurfShark and ProtonVPN expressed significant reservations about the rules, with several announcing plans to withdraw their server infrastructure from India.
NordVPN, ExpressVPN and SurfShark continue to maintain services for Indian customers, although they have stopped marketing their applications in the country.