More than half a dozen VPN apps, including the widely used Cloudflare 1.1.1.1, have been removed from the Apple App Store and Google Play Store in India following intervention from government authorities, a TechCrunch investigation found. .
India's Ministry of Home Affairs ordered the app to be taken down, according to documents reviewed by TechCrunch and disclosures Google made to Lumen, a Harvard University database that tracks government takedown requests around the world.
Affected apps include Hide.me and PrivadoVPN. In an interaction with one of the affected developers seen by TechCrunch, Apple said that India Cyber, a part of the Ministry of Home Affairs, deemed the developer's content to be in violation of Indian law. It referred to a “request” from the Crime Coordination Center.
The ministry, Apple, Google and Cloudflare did not respond to requests for comment.
This enforcement action marks the first significant implementation of India's 2022 regulatory framework governing VPN apps. The rules require VPN providers and cloud service operators to maintain comprehensive records of their customers, including names, addresses, IP addresses, and transaction history, for five years.
This strict requirement sparked a backlash from major players in the industry. Big brands like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, SurfShark, and ProtonVPN have expressed major concerns over this rule, and several have announced plans to pull their server infrastructure out of India.
NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and SurfShark have stopped marketing their apps in India, but continue to maintain services for Indian customers.