By Sam boughedda
Investing.com — Shares of Sea Limited, the Singapore-based consumer internet company, are down over 18% Monday after reports that India will ban 54 apps of Chinese origin.
While Sea is based in Singapore, its founders are Chinese-born. The company is also backed by the Chinese technology and entertainment firm Tencent.
On Monday morning, a tweet from Asian News International said "Govt of India to ban 54 Chinese apps that pose a threat to India’s security: Sources."
"The 54 Chinese apps include Beauty Camera: Sweet Selfie HD, Beauty Camera - Selfie Camera, Equalizer & Bass Booster, CamCard for SalesForce Ent, Isoland 2: Ashes of Time Lite, Viva Video Editor, Tencent Xriver, Onmyoji Chess, Onmyoji Arena, AppLock, Dual Space Lite," they added in the thread.
Free Fire, which is also said to be on the list, is a battle royale game owned by Sea that has more than a billion downloads from the Google Play store.
The move isn't the first time India has banned Chinese apps, having already prohibited the extremely popular social media app, TikTok, citing security concerns.
Sea's share price is down over 40% so far this year, giving up a significant percentage of its gains from the pandemic.