NEW DELHI: Giving a new dimension to information warfare, intelligence agencies have found that China is resorting to plot against India's northeast by using a mobile app - REDNOTE - which lures users with money and other benefits to share and spread anti-national contents, sources said on Sunday.
The residents of several north-eastern states, including those from Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Assam, are on the app's radar. Following a report from the intelligence agencies, the government is considering a ban on the online application.
The intelligence sources said that REDNOTE looked like an ordinary app, but in a closer analysis, it was found that the same was filled with fake RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) documents, disputed maps of India, doctored videos and a few pro-Pakistan contents.
They said, the agencies have also found that REDNOTE has deliberately put in the mobile application market intending to create mistrust among youth towards India with messages like “Delhi is far away”, as it also posts messages with remarks like China is closer, which is beneficial for people living the northeast.
The intelligence sources suspect that psychological operations experts from China and Pakistan have put out the app to infiltrate the minds of people living in the northeastern states.
A senior security officer said, “Given the geopolitical importance of India’s northeast in terms of the country’s security, China is applying the same strategy it used earlier in Africa, Taiwan and Hong Kong to create instability.”
Now since ill-intent of China through this app has come to light, the government has initiated the necessary procedure to put a ban on it, as India had done earlier against popular Chinese apps like TikTok, ShareIt and UC Browser, on the pretext of national security, the sources said.
It is to be noted here that for the past several years China has been questioning India’s sovereignty over Arunachal Pradesh and depicted the state as part of “South Tibet” under its control on its maps, which has always drawn sharp reactions from New Delhi.
India has so far banned over 300 Chinese apps since the Galwan clash in June 2020.