Apple has not refused to comply with the order issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), but the iPhone maker has said it cannot ‘arbitrarily’ remove the betting apps and make them unavailable in India, ET reported.

As betting apps are valid and legal in other countries, Apple is of the view that it would be difficult for the company to remove them in India. However, the government has asked the company to look into ways for implementing the order.

Following MeitY’s order banning the betting apps, Apple executives met officials of the ministry in March. The Cupertino-based tech giant is currently in the process of ‘vetting’ the apps. It wants to ensure that only ‘wrong or bad players’ of the ecosystem are taken down.

However, some of the apps have been taken down by Apple as an interim measure, while it is working on the “best possible solution” for other apps, the report said.

Earlier this year, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) directed MeitY to ban and block as many as 232 apps that either originate or have links to China. These included 138 betting apps and 94 online lending apps.

The apps in question were flouting Section 69 of the IT Act. Additionally, senior officials of the ministry were of the opinion that these apps contained material which was a threat to the sovereignty and integrity of the country.

Later in the year, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) advised media entities, platforms and online advertisement intermediaries to refrain from carrying advertisements/ promotional content of betting platforms.

The Enforcement Directorate (ED) also seized INR 212.91 Cr till December 2022 in connection with money laundering probes involving online gambling platforms.