![India first democracy to ban encrypted messaging apps on massive scale.](/blog/images/thumbnails/apps-banned-india.png)
2023-05-11
In India, apps including Briar, Element and Threema, got blocked beginning of May based on the arguments that these
apps would be used by "terrorists" and that these apps would not have a "representative" for government contact based
in India. However, it more looks like a strategic decision to stop Indian people from using secure and
anonymous messaging apps. This makes India the first democracy to follow in the footsteps of authoritarian governments
like Iran and Russia.