DISSERTATION REPORT

Impact of ban on Chinese apps in India (Netnographic study)

Submitted by
Ashish Kumar
A0101919075

MBA Class of 2021

Under the Supervision of

Prof. Dr. Teena Bagga

Professor
Department of Information Technology

In Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of

Master of Business Administration – General

At

AMITY BUSINESS SCHOOL

AMITY UNIVERSITY UTTAR PRADESH
SECTOR 125, NOIDA - 201303, UTTAR PRADESH, INDIA
 DECLARATION

The title of Dissertation Report is

“Impact of ban on Chinese apps in India (Netnographic study)”

I declare that (a) the work presented for assessment in this Dissertation Report is my original

work, that it has not previously been presented for any other assessment and that my debts (for

words, data, arguments and ideas) have been appropriately acknowledged; (b) work conforms to

the guidelines laid by the University, and (c) Plagiarism for this report has been checked using

DrillBit software and is 9%. The summary of report is attached along with for reference.

Date: 1st April 2021 Ashish Kumar

A0101919075
MBA(General)
(Class of 2021)

i
 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Ashish Kumar student of Master of Business Administration at Amity
Business School, Amity University Uttar Pradesh has completed the Dissertation Report on
“Impact of ban on Chinese apps in India (Netnographic study)” in Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree of Master of Business Administration under my guidance.
The report has been checked for the plagiarism and it is acceptable.

Date: 1st April 2021 Prof. Dr. Teena Bagga

Professor
Department of Information Technology

ii
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I express my deepest gratitude and special thanks to Prof. Dr. Teena Bagga who in spite of being
extraordinarily busy with his duties, took time out to hear, guide and keep me on the correct path
and allowing me to carry out my project.

I would also like to thank my friends and family for supporting me constantly and boosting my
morale throughout.

I take this opportunity as a big milestone in my career development. I will strive to use gained
skills and knowledge in the best possible way and will continue to work on the improvement.

Date: 1st April 2021 Ashish Kumar

A0101919075
MBA(General)
(Class of 2021)

iii
Contents
ABSTRACT .................................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 2
Online World .............................................................................................................................. 2
Ban on Chinese applications in India! ........................................................................................ 2
Reason of ban.......................................................................................................................... 2
Effect on users! ........................................................................................................................... 5
Finding the alternative ................................................................................................................ 5
Effect on Chinese app providers ................................................................................................. 6
Research Gap .............................................................................................................................. 6
Purpose & Research Question .................................................................................................... 6
Delimitation ................................................................................................................................ 6
LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................................... 7
Ethnography ................................................................................................................................ 7
Netnography................................................................................................................................ 7
Grounded Theory ........................................................................................................................ 8
METHODOLOGY ......................................................................................................................... 9
Methodology & Fit ..................................................................................................................... 9
Research Design.......................................................................................................................... 9
Research Strategy........................................................................................................................ 9
Research Approach ................................................................................................................... 10
Data Collection ......................................................................................................................... 10
ANALYSIS ................................................................................................................................... 12
Good decision taken by government......................................................................................... 14
Alternative apps as the users’ reaction...................................................................................... 14
DISCUSSION ............................................................................................................................... 16
CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................. 16
Limitations ................................................................................................................................ 16
Theoretical Contribution ........................................................................................................... 17
Implications............................................................................................................................... 17
Future research .......................................................................................................................... 17
References ..................................................................................................................................... 18

iv
 LIST OF TABLES

S.NO TITLE PAGE

NO
Table1 List of Sources and the number of comments that were linked to 11
them.

LIST OF FIGURES

S.NO TITLE PAGE

NO
Fig1 Conceptual framework of the users’ reaction 15

v
 ABSTRACT

Use and ease of any mobile application makes one to stick to that and when asked to switch to
another application one may not agree. After the ban of total 256 Chinese mobile application Indian
users were now left with only option to switch to another application. This research paper used
Netnography to explore the reaction of the Indian users after the ban. Information in the form
comments which was generated by the users on total 8 sources: the Hindu, YouTube, Economic
times, The Indian Express, the Print, dare2compete, LinkedIn, and Facebook were analyzed to
identify the components of the users’ reaction towards the ban, and it was found that the Indian
users were supporting the ban and were willing to switch to another app as the first component
was identified as “good decision taken by the government”, second component was “alternative
apps as the users reaction”. The data for this analysis came from 8 separate sites and included 213
online comments about users' reactions to the ban. Key words “great step”, “glad”, “alternative
apps”, “happy”, “great decision”, “agree”, “better”, “opportunities”, “brilliant”, “atmanirbhar
bharat”, “best decision”, “no worries”, “support” were used to select the comments. To avoid
intervening with the naturally occurring conversation, the analysis assumed a passive,
discreet role. The data was analyzed using a grounded theory approach.
The relation discussed in the study aims to reveal a few key details, such as how Indian users
reacted to the ban, was this a good decision taken by the government or this will create a problem
for the users when asked to switch the app.

Keywords: Netnography, impact, reaction, ban on Chinese app, alternative apps

1
 INTRODUCTION

Online World

In this fast-moving world with the rise in technology, there is a tremendous rise in the usage of
mobile phones (Cummings, Roehrer, & Borycki, 2013). In the last couple of years, E-commerce
has become one of the pillars of the worldwide retail structure. With the increasing access to the
web and quick adoption of it around the world, there were 1.52 billion smartphones were sold all
over the world (statista, 2020). With the rise in the usage of both smartphones and the internet,
there is a significant rise in the use, sale, and development of mobile applications across the globe
(Cummings, Roehrer, & Borycki, 2013). Many Chinese applications had a major share in India
like TikTok had 611 million downloads with 200 million active users, SHAREIt had approx. 400
million users in India and UC Browser has nearly 10% (130 million) of their market share in India
(K. Bharat Kumar, 2020).
In the last couple of years technology and smartphones have changed how we share media now
and this has led to increase in the dependency on use of mobile applications. Mobile application
development has now become one of the highest growth sector all over the world because of
versatile use of the mobile applications. Government, companies and many service sector
organizations are moving towards mobile application solutions.

Ban on Chinese applications in India!

Reason of ban

With the use of mobile applications, they ask for much personal information which is then stored
by the respective company and this information may be used as a threat for any person or country.
According to a press release from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, it had
received "many complaints from various sources, including many reports about misuse of some
mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and secretly transmitting users'
data to servers located outside India." Indian ministry agreed to block the 59 apps initially in a
decision to protect India’s authority and dignity citing Section 69A of the Information Technology
(IT)Act and the related provisions of IT under blocking of access to information by the public rules
2009. Although the government didn’t specifically mention China in its move towards the
applications, public statements by authorities such as Ravi Shankar Prasad, the Union Minister for
Communications, Electronics and Information Technology and Law and Justice claimed that the
“web strike” was carried out for the protection, welfare, and dignity of India, as well as to safeguard
privacy and data of Indian citizens.

2
Cybersecurity is concerned with the analysis of the risk involved and then finding the potential
risk within the network (Cavelty, 2010). There was a clash between India and China on Ladakh
Border on 15th June 2020, so in the wake of national data security Indian government banned 59
applications of Chinese origin on 29th June 2020 under section 69A (Information Technology Act)
and banned more 118 applications on 2nd September 2020 (Tech Desk, 2020). Making it total 217
banned applications in India, they have been removed from the play store and any app store in
India.
TikTok Shareit Kwai
UC Browser Baidu map Shein
Clash of Kings DU battery saver Helo
Likee YouCam makeup Mi community
CM Browser Virus Cleaner APUS Browser
ROMWE Club Factory Newsdog
Beutry Plus WeChat UC News
QQ Mail Weibo Xender
QQ Music QQ Newsfeed Bigo Live
SelfieCity Mail Master Parallel Space
Mi Video call- Xiaomi WeSync ES File Explorer
Viva Video-QU Video Inc Meitu Vigo Video
APUS Launcher Pro APUS Launcher APUS Security
APUS Turbo Cleaner APUS Flashlight Cut Cut- Cut out & Phot
background editor
Baidu Baidu Express Edition FaceU – Inspire your beauty
ShareSave by Xiaomi: Lates CamCard – Business card CamCard Business
gadgets, amazing deals reader
CamCard for salesforce CamOCR InNote
VooV Meeting – Tencent Super clean – Master of WeChat reading
video conferencing clener, phone booster
WeChat reading Government WeChat Small Q brush
Tencen Weiyun Pitu WeChat Work
Cyber Hunter Cyber Hunter Lite Knives Out- No rules, Just
fight
Super Mecha champions LifeAfter Dawn of Isles
Ludo World-Ludo superstar Chess Rush PUBG MOBILE Nordic
Map: Livik
PUBG Mobile LITE Rise of kingdoms: Lost Art of conquest: Dark
crusade Horizon
Dank Tanks Warpath Game of sultans
Gallery Vault – Hide Pictures Smart AppLock (App protect) Message Lock (SMS Lock)-
and Videos Gallery vault developer team
Hide app- Hide application Applock Applock LITE
icon
Dual Space – Multiple ZAKZAK Pro- Live chat & ZAKZAK LIVE: live-
accounts & App cloner Video chat online streaming & video chat app

3
Music – Mp3 Player
Cleaner – Phone booster
Photo Gallery HD & Editor
HD Camera pro & Selfie
camera
Web Browser – Fast, Privacy
& Light web explorer
Video Player – All format
HD Video player
MV Master – Make your
status video community
LivU Meet new people &
Video Chat with strangers
Bike racing : Moto traffic
rider bike racing games
GO SMS Pro- Messenger,
Free themes, Emoji
Tantan – Date for real
Malay social dating app to
data & meet singles
Mibile Taobao
Sina News
Murderous Pursuits
HUYA LIVE- Game live
stream
Hi Meitu
Penguin E-sports live
assistant
Beauty camera plus- sweet
camera & face selfie
MARVEL super war NetEase
Games
Mafia city yotta games
Yimeng jianghu-chu liuxiang
has been fully upgraded
Soul Hunters
DU recorder
DU Cleaner
Music Player – Audio Player HD Camera selfie Beauty
& 10 Bands Equalizer camera
Web Browser & Fast Video Player All Format for
Explorer Android
Photo Gallery & Album Music player – Bass Booster
– Free Download
Music player – MP3 Player & Gallery HD
10 Bands Equalizer
Web Browser – Secure Music Player – Audio Player
Explorer
Lamour love all over the Amour- Video chat & call all
world over the world
MV Master – Best Video APUS Message Center-
Maker & Photo Video Editor Intelligent management
Carrom friends: Carrom Ludo all star- Play online
Board & Pool Game ludo game & board games
Rangers of oblivion: Online Z Camera- Photo Editor,
action MMO RPG Game Beauty selfie, Collage
U-Dictionary: Oxford Ulike- Define your selfie in
dictionary free now translate trendy style
MICO chat: New friends Kitty live- Live streming &
banaen aur live chat karen Video live chat
Alipay AlipayHK
Youku Road of kings – Endless glory
Netease News Penguin FM
Tencent Watchlist Learn Chinese AI- Super
Chinese
Little Q Album Fighting landlords- Free and
happy fighting landlords
Mobile Legends: Pocket VPN for TikTok
Buy cars-offer everything you iPick
need, special offers and low
prices
Parallel space lite- Dual app Chief almighty; First thunder
BC
AFK Arena Creative Destruction NetEase
Games
Onmyoji Netease Games Ride out heroes netease
games
Legend: Rising empire Arena of Valor: 5v5 Arena
netease games games
Rules of survival New video status
Vault-Hide Cache cleaner-DU App studio
DU Browser Hago play with new friends
4
 Cam Scanner Clean Master- Cheetah Wonder Camera
Mobile
Photo Wonder We Meet Sweet Selfie
Baidu Translate Vmate QQ International QQ Security Center
QQ Launcher U video V fly status video
Mobile Legends DU Privacy AliSuppliers Mobile app
Alibaba workbench AliExpress – Smarter Alipay Cashier
shopping, Better living
Lalamove India- Delivery app Drive with lalamove India Snack Video
CamCard- Busines card CamCard- BCR (Western) Soul- Follow the soul to find
reader you
Chinese social- free online Date in Asia- Dating & chat We Date-Dating app
dating video app and chat for Asian singles
Free dating app- Singol, start Adore app TrulyChinese- Chinese dating
your date! app
TrulyAsian- Asian dating app ChinaLove: Dating app for DareMyAge: Chat, meetm
Chinese singles date mature singles online
AsianDate: find Asian singles FlirtWish: Chat with singles Guys only dating: Gay chat
Tubit: Live streams We work China First love live
Rela- Lesbian social network Cashier Wallet MangoTV
MGTV-HunanYV official WeTV- TV version WeTV- Cdrama, Kdrama &
TV app more
WeTv Lite Lucky Live- Live video Taobao Live
streaming app
DingTalk Identity V Isoland 2: Ashes of time
BoxStar Heroes Evolved Happy Fish
Jellipop Match-decorate your Munchkin Match: magic hoke Conquista Online II
dream island! building

Effect on users!

The apps which are installed in the user’s phone will be functioning well, but the user will not get
the future updates as it has been removed from the app store or play store. The functioning of the
application may be affected due to the server block in India. People pay good amount to purchase
an app on the store and if it has been banned then this is the loss for the person because he must
get the alternative now.

Finding the alternative

There are some apps which have better alternatives available but there are some where user had
their backup and now, they had to shift to another app after the ban which led the users worry
about their data loss. Like browsers can be switched easily but app like CamScanner where the

5
user data was backed up on google drive has to switch to Adobe Scan or Microsoft Office lens,
now the person has to download each document and re-upload individually.

Effect on Chinese app providers

Due to the ban the Chinese app providers have lost significantly huge revenue and hence, affects
the app-makers. As in the case of Tik Tok’s parent company ByteDance Ltd. Which had collected
$5.8 million revenue in the year ended 2019, they reported loss of nearly $15 million per month
because of the ban as it had gained tremendous user base in 2020.

Research Gap

This is the first article on netnographic to study the impact of certain issue. There have been few
studies on the impact of ban on Chinese apps in India which gives the insights about the financial
and economic impacts but there is no Netnography approach to this study where the reaction of
people is studied.

Purpose & Research Question

The top reasons why people comment online were (i) they wanted to express their emotion or
opinion (ii) they wanted to add some information to the topic (iii) they wanted to correct the
inaccuracies or misinformation (Aschwanden, 2016). When people read an article and share their
comment about the topic this also reflects that what they wanted or feel about the same.
The purpose of study is based on solving the question that “What was the impact on people of
India?” To know their unbiased reactions, opinions, and emotions about the ban on Chinese apps
it is important to observe the reactions without any interference so, netnographic study about the
same is best suited here.

Delimitation

There is no deny the fact that online transformation has given more flexibilities to the researchers.
All the aspects of the reaction of people on ban on Chinese apps cannot be studied and lack of
pedagogy experience limits my study to certain factors of the study. The absence of informant
markers in the online world, which may make it impossible to infer findings to populations outside
the study.

6
 LITERATURE REVIEW

When a more diverse pool of the world's population followed the early digital enthusiasts,
architects, and scholars, a wider and not often honest expression of human behaviour expressed
itself online (Lee, 2021). People have used virtual communities to share their emotions and
thoughts about a particular problem. Digital communities have had a huge effect on connectivity,
social identities, and the very essence of human activity, and will continue to do so. Some virtual
groups encourage the adoption of moral codes, provide for in-group reform (Townley & Parsell,
2012). The mixture of ethnography and the web allows for new analysis methods to be developed
that can potentially reach a large online audience thus, giving the freedom which can study peoples'
reactions. (Kaya, Metin, & Yetim, 2017). Digital network services have had a huge effect on
customer and spending behaviours, placing pressure on companies to develop new ways to cope
with these changes (La Rocca, 2014). Netnographic studies are giving new edge to non-
participatory (passive) methods, which tend to be naturalistic and bias-free qualitative research
(Costello, McDermott, & Wallace, 2017). Netnography is monitoring of group members'
connectivity and engagement in a discreet and non-intruding way in order to obtain realistic
insights into their user actions (Kozinets R. V., 2002).
The interpretivism concept that truth and reality are related to an individual's perceptions is shared
by ethnography and grounded theory, which means that, although some of the practical mechanics
of each methodology vary, when used together, they form a powerful methodology (Charmaz &
Mitchell, 2001).

Ethnography

In present scenario, market-oriented ethnography, one-on-one interviews, and focus groups are
considered popular qualitative methods (Arnould & Wallendorf, 1994). Ethnography is a
technique which first developed in the study of human mankind and, now it is being used in
different research. There are two forms of data sources from which the ethnographic interpretation
is found observations and verbal report (Arnould & Wallendorf, 1994). It is considered to be an
open-ended research study and is usually based on observation. it includes researcher’s perception,
ethnography is likewise a purposefully and unavoidably meddling technique that reveals the
natural consumer behavior (Kozinets, 2002).

Netnography

The vast amount of data available on the internet and digital media had made it difficult to study
or extract the outcome, but at the same time it has proposed the new angle where these behaviors
or data can be used as ethnographic inquiry (Coleman, 2010). The ascent of computerized

7
innovations can possibly open new headings in ethnography which indeed gives the researchers
new and large area to study (Murthy, 2008). Netnography is a qualitative and interpretive research
methodology which uses ethnography to study on the internet and social media. Opposite of
ethnography it is less costly and less time consuming than the ethnography as it uses data which is
freely available and not disturbed by the researcher (Kozinets R. V., 2015). The interpretation of
behavioral netnography contrasts sharply with more conventional experimental analysis
approaches such as focus groups, informal interviews, and ethnographies for understanding
conduct. Observing online populations using observational netnographic methods may be a more
efficient and cost-effective analysis tool (Costello, McDermott, & Wallace, 2017). The concept of
netnography as a set of techniques for studying consumer behaviour on the internet is not new;
digital ethnographic studies that have sought to use larger socio-cultural observations have done
so in the past (Xun & Reynolds, 2010).

Grounded Theory

The foundations of grounded theory can be found in symbolic interactionism. People who are self-
aware, able to see themselves through the eyes of others, and thereby adapt their behavior to the
environment (Mead, 1934). In contrast to quantitative research, where time is spent analysing
literature and planning details of all phases of the research process, qualitative research requires
the gathering of data to form ongoing plans and, possibly, to uncover the nature of the study
questions (Heath & Cowley, 2003). The majority of sociological method writing has focused on
how precise facts can be acquired and how theory can be more rigorously evaluated as a result. It
also discusses how the discovery of theory from data, which is routinely collected and analysed in
social research, can be developed. The discovery of data-grounded theory, which fits empirical
circumstances and is understandable by sociologists and laypeople alike, is a major task facing
sociology. Most importantly, it makes accurate forecasts. explanations, interpretations, and
applications. This approach entails selecting and analysing multiple comparison groups in a
systematic manner (insert citation). When the researcher's primary goal is to generate theory,
grounded theory technique and techniques have become one of the most influential and commonly
used modes of conducting qualitative research. This method of qualitative research has spread
beyond sociology to other social sciences and practitioner fields, including accounting industry,
management, education, nursing, and healthcare. It has an equally stunning geographical spread.
This reflects a strong desire for different theories, as well as the growing use of qualitative data
and its interpretation (Strauss & Corbin, 1997).

8
 METHODOLOGY

This chapter of the research is based on enquiry of the research issue which is accompanied by the
description of the research method and research design. The purpose of this research is to look at
the factors that influence Indian users' responses to the ban on Chinese apps in India. This chapter
would attempt to describe the research framework as well as potential roadblocks to my analysis.
For data collection and grounded theory in coding and analysis, the study employs netnography,
also known as "online ethnography," "webnography," "cyberethnography," and "virtual
ethnography."

Methodology & Fit

Netnography is continuously improving as technology and online user data change (Reid & Duffy,
2017) and data is limited in this topic of my study. In the current digital world where people share
their opinions and feelings, this explains that there is potential data available online which can be
studied like in the earlier methods of qualitative research. In this iterative/simultaneous process,
ethnography and grounded theory are methodological fits.

Research Design

The structure of this research is finding out the reaction of the people on ban on Chinese app in
India. To achieve it, comments from various sources were collected and then analyzed based on
the keywords for the study.

Research Strategy

There were various steps involved the first step was “recognizing the online communities that are
most important to a researcher's basic research interest and discovering as much as necessary about
those communities” (Kozinets R. V., 2002). When selecting sites for netnographic study these 6
things should be “relevant, active, interactive, substantial, heterogeneous & data-rich” (Kozinets
R. V., 2015). In second step data was collected. The data was collected in the month Dec-Feb and
then analyzed. The third stage is concerned with the researcher's function ethics. Researchers
should completely reveal their identity and intentions, receive informed consent, and perform
member reviews with target respondents before joining an engaged online group as participant
(Wu & Pearce, 2014). Also, there is no practical reason to communicate or seek permission when
visiting blogs or analysis pages as non-participant observers because these are public (sometimes
nameless) and the posts have also been made months or years before (Mkono, 2012).

9
Research Approach

In this study there is passive, discreet approach, meaning researcher did not engage with or affect
the study subjects' naturally occurring or continuing conversations. The covert netnographic
technique used here encourages researchers and bloggers to maintain a significant personal and
social gap (Arsal, Woosnam, & Elizabeth, 2010).

Data Collection

Data was collected between 2020 after the ban- mid 2021. There was total 8 sources: the Hindu,
YouTube, Economic times, The Indian Express, the Print, dare2compete, LinkedIn, and Facebook.
Ban the Chinese apps, support of one app ban like tiktok, emoji reactions and many harsh
comments were excluded from the research. Key words “great step”, “glad”, “alternative apps”,
“happy”, “great decision”, “agree”, “better”, “opportunities”, “brilliant”, “atmanirbhar bharat”,
“best decision”, “no worries”, “support” were used to select the comments. These keywords were
selected to avoid being overwhelmed by results, and to exclude unnecessary feedback and
messages from the report, so that the analytical depth and a focus on the subject is maintained.
From the total 8 sources, 2 did not contain any keywords which were selected for the study; hence
they were not considered for the study. Each comment is counted as single entry. On an average
each comment contains one line. Out of the total 5000 online comments from 6 sources, a total of
213 (80 from YouTube, 42 from Facebook, 33 from LinkedIn, 23 from Economics times, 22 from
The Indian Express and 13 from the Hindu) centred on the ten keywords is included in the analysis,
which are great step (51), glad(12), alternative apps (18), happy (12), great decision (27), agree
(5), better opportunities (8), brilliant (17), atmanirbhar bharat (17), best decision (20), no
worries(9), support(10).

10
 Table 1 List of Sources and the number of comments that were linked to them.

Total of Atmanir
Great Alternative Great better Best No
Number Source each happy agree brilliant bhar support glad
step apps decision opportunities decision worries
source bharat
1 YouTube 80 33 4 2 7 1 3 8 12 4 2 0 4
2 facebook 42 8 4 4 4 0 2 4 8 4 0 2 2
3 LinkedIn 33 2 1 1 5 2 0 1 2 7 3 6 3
Economic
4 23 1 4 1 8 2 1 2 0 0 2 1 1

11
Times
The
5 Indian 22 4 3 2 0 0 2 1 2 4 1 1 2
Express

6 The Hindu 13 3 2 2 3 0 0 1 0 1 1 0 0

Total 213 51 18 12 27 5 8 17 24 20 9 10 12
 ANALYSIS

This section of the research aims to present the findings from the online comments relating to their
reaction on the decision of ban on Chinese apps in India. The study identified two components that
reflected the users’ reaction towards the ban on Chinese apps in India: Support of the decision and
Switching to the alternative apps (Figure 1 Conceptual framework of the users’ reaction).
Table 2 Demonstration of Coding process in practice

Selected Comments Subtheme Main themes

it's good they banned Chinese apps, Good Supporting the Good decision taken by
decision, This step was needed, GOOD decision, no government, will switch to
NEWS, It's good to banned Chinese apps, I
am glad, Good start for India, One of the best worries in alternative apps as the users’
decision of, Great government of India, It's switching reaction
great decision, I have no problem that I used
to alternatives apps compare to the Chinese
app, alternative which, Good start for India,
Tik tok Ke alternative Hain, Good way... 👍,
I agree to promote m, Good information,
Good decision by government, Thanks to
government, A step toward better future, this
ban brings opportunities to our IT industries,
to build opportunities, A brilliant step taken
by India 🇮🇳, Atma nirbhar bharat, best
decision of this year!, Good news, Best
Atmanirbhar Bharat App Innovation
Challenge, Atma Nirbhar Bharat app
challenge has, No worries, No worries,
Good, Support, good 👍👌 decision, no
worries, no worries, no worries, atma nirbhar
bharat, no worries, Jio browser is very very
good, No worries, Good step by modi
government, We support government
decision, very nice action taken by Govt of
India, in my opinion, it is a very good step
from India govt to banned Chinee apps so
that India can build their own applications,
but if we want to ban chines product then
first we have to made own product
DON'T HAVE TO WORRY
I am very glad that our government had
banned 59 Chinese apps
really appreciate
amazing . Keep going
Very Appreciated
Really good efforts 💪
really awesome
In my opinion, it is a very good step from
India govt to banned Chinee apps
I support for banning

12
Nothing is important than our
country which is in danger at present.
Indian armies sacrificed their lives, wake up
please. We are the youth of our country, we
are the future.
banned means banned
I really liked the banning of this apps
I believe those apps were made by some
developer's hard work. Banning those apps
certainly effect them not China's economy.
India must do is to compete with them as
hundreds of thousands of good developers
are still struggling, I am definitely agree sir
i said support our country India's people as
well govt, I am support pung ban
Chinese games like pubg and should also be
banned !!!, Good news
Very good kabi aaana be nhi chahiye ya sab
China app india me
Good decision govt of India jai hind
Very good decision...By our government,
now we use alternate apps avoid china
product and apps, Very Good decision.,
Thank you gov of india
First time good decision central
government , Very good decision,
Good decision, Very good
2 Good, Good, Excellent, very good decision
Hope to take actions to reduce the import
volume further..through making india, I
come here for only alternative of cam
scanner, Better alternatives were already
available, Thumbs up,What about alternative
of vidmix vidmate? Any good one suggest
me, I transferred from es file explorer to
solid file manager but the tab system in es
file explorer was really convenient,can
anyone have a suggestion for an alternative
app with same feature? Vmate ka alternative
batao, The only app i used to use is UC
Browser for its download speed. It was
unbeatable. But now i will find an
alternative.

13
Good decision taken by government.

The first component which is linked to the reaction of the users’ due to the ban of Chinese apps
in India is the good decision taken by government. Out of the total 213 comments that were
selected for the study, 158 (74%) were associated in the support of the ban on Chinese apps in
India. Many comments were interpretive like “it's good to banned Chinese apps”, “This step was
needed”, “I am glad”, “One of the best decisions”, “It's great decision”, “I agree to”, “Good
decision by government”, “Thanks to government”, “best decision of this year!”, “Good news”,
“good 👍👌 decision”, “Good step by modi government”, “We support government decision”,
“very nice action taken by Govt of India”, “it is a very good step from India govt to banned
Chinee apps so that India can build their own applications”, “I am very glad that our government
had banned 59 Chinese apps”, “I support for banning”, “I really liked the banning of this apps”,
“I am definitely agree sir”, “i said support our country India's people as well govt”, “I am support
pubg ban”, “Very good kabi aaana be nhi chahiye ya sab China app india me”, “Good decision
govt of India jai hind”, “Very Good decision”, “Thank you gov of india”, “First time good
decision central government ”, “2 Good”, all of these examples emphasize the significance
of good decision taken by government as the users’ reaction to the ban.
The significance of the theme is more supported by the online articles which posted about the
impact of ban on Chinese apps in India. There were many articles which reviewed the issue
critically. One person on the Hindu article commented that “The first things is potentiality. If
Chinese …………………….be discouraged by not only Govt. even people too”, one on the
Economic times commented “Yes entire India wants this we must not fill ………….our soldiers
on borders”.

Alternative apps as the users’ reaction

The second component which is linked to the users’ due to the ban of Chinese apps in India is
“the switch to the alternative apps” and many comments were interpretative like: “Very good
decision...By our government, now we use alternate apps avoid china product and apps”, “I have
no problem that I used to alternatives apps compare to the Chinese app”, “switched to
alternative”, “Tik-tok Ke alternative Hain”, “this ban brings opportunities to our IT industries to
build alternatives”, “no worries”, “if we want to ban chines product then first we have to made
own product”, “DON'T HAVE TO WORRY”, “I support ban will switch”, “there are many
alternatives available”, “I am ready to switch to the other app but the problem is that now I have
to make a backup again on the new app”, “India should develop alternative of Chinese apps”,
“now India can develop alternatives”, “I come here for only alternative of cam scanner”, “Better
alternatives were already available”, “Thumbs up, will switch”, “What about alternative of
vidmix vidmate? Any good one.. suggest me.”, “vidmate ka indian alternative kaya hay....??”,
“clubfactory ka alternative to please btaiye”, “I am here for share it alternative”, “I transferred
from es file explorer to solid file manager but the tab system in es file explorer was really

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convenient,can anyone have an alternative for a similar app with same feature?”, “Vmate ka
alternative batao”, “The only app i used to use is UC Browser for its download speed. It was
unbeatable. But now i will find an alternative.”, “Is there any alternative for mi remote? The all
app features should be free(No purchases require)” all of these examples reflects the reaction of
the users that they were searching for the alternative. The significance of this more supported by
the fact that many bloggers and influencers were posting about the alternative apps. Making it
convenient for the users to switch.

will switch to
alternative
apps as the
users’ reaction

Components
of users'
reaction
Good decision taken
by government

Figure 1 Conceptual framework of the users’ reaction

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 DISCUSSION

This paper attempted to find out the reaction of the ban of Chinese apps in India. Netnography is
an effective way to get the reactions of the people without interference from the social media where
they are not involved in creating the data (Kozinets R. V., 2015). The comments on the online
communities are reflection of their reaction to the decision about the ban. Field note is a
netnographic study is important for the researcher as it talks about the participation of the
researcher into the community and their thoughts on these relationship. For example, while
researching about the reaction of the users because of the ban the researcher kept track of his
behavioral activities and reflections so that he could track how his growing understanding from
the online communities was affecting his theories.

CONCLUSION

There are many alternative apps available in the market and will keep on adding up, but somewhere
it matters to the users when switching to new app of same functionality. Findings in the study
shows that the users are ready to switch to the other apps, but the multiple apps of same
functionality are confusing them, and it takes long time to build the network on the other app. As
in the case of Tik-tok, person with millions of followers find it hard to build the same network on
the other app. This research has tried to find the reaction of the people of India by taking two
important factors of the reaction: was right decision taken by the government, and are people
willing to switch to the other available apps or the Indian apps. Although India is in the support of
the ban and willing to switch to the other apps and people are supporting the Atmanirbhar bharat
challenge.

Limitations

The amount of data available online is very vast, so there are some limit to which the research can
proceed. This is the first research paper on knowing the reaction of the users after the ban on
Chinese app in India. A general approach was used to ensure quality, and the conclusions of this
research can be used to locate, investigate, and investigate in other environments. The focus of this
study is on answering the research question.

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Theoretical Contribution

This study contributes to a better understanding (through netnography) of the understudied region
of community responses. This study aims to learn more about consumers' reactions when the
government announced a ban on Chinese apps, which is further elaborated in the study.

Implications

The finding of the study is helpful for many researchers and app developers specially in India for
the reference etc. It can help new researchers and app developers to understand about the study of
community reactions for background study and while developing new app respectively.

Future research

The finding revealed several unanswered questions, and responses to some of them are given in
this study. This study focuses on the reactions described previously, but some of the elements can
be studied in other contexts as well. It's possible that more research will be done to determine how
users respond to the ban.

17
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