PM Modi Quits Chinese App Weibo; Posts, Profile Picture Taken Down From Micro-Blogging Site

Since joined in 2015, Prime Minister often used the account to talk about yoga and wish Chinese President Xi Jinping on his birthday.

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New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi's account on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo went completely blank on Wednesday as his profile picture, posts and all the comments were taken down from the handle. PM Modi, who had joined the Chinese platform equivalent of Twitter a few years ago, decided that he would be quitting Weibo in wake of India launching a digital strike against China by banning 59 China-based Apps in the country. Since joined in 2015, PM Modi had 115 posts on Weibo. The account had 244000 followers, many of them Chinese. Prime Minister often used the account to talk about yoga and wish Chinese President Xi Jinping on his birthday. As per the sources quoted by news agency ANI, Weibo is yet to close PM Modi’s account. Sources explained that for VIP accounts, Weibo has a more complex procedure to quit which is why the official process was initiated. "For reasons best known to the Chinese, there was a great delay in granting this basic permission. It was decided to manually delete them. After much effort 113 posts were removed," sources said. This has come two days after the Government of India on Monday decided to ban at least 59 mobile applications. The list of 59 mobile apps with their origin in China includes TikTok, SHAREit, US Browser, Baidu map, Helo, Mi Community, Club Factory, WeChat, UC News, Weibo, Xender, Meitu, CamScanner, and Clean Master - Cheetah Mobile.  The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) cited security concerns to ban these apps. The move has rekindled optimism among homegrown app developers who can leverage the ban on Chinese social media apps. China, on the other hand, expressed its concerns and emphasised that the Indian government has a responsibility to uphold the legal rights of international investors including China's. ALSO WATCH | India's biggest toy city to beat sale of Chinese toys in the country