❗️ A warning for digital rights in Asia: India Tried to Install a Surveillance App on Every Phone. It Failed, For Now.

What’s happening in India?

India ordered all smartphone manufacturers to preinstall Sanchar Saathi, a permanent state-run surveillance app that would appear on every new device. While they revoked the plan the week after, it does not erase intent.

Sanchar Saathi was marketed as public service, but in reality, it was an attempt to normalise surveillance by embedding it directly into the device itself.

What is Sanchar Saathi?

Sanchar Saathi is a government app presented as a tool to help users verify their phone’s IMEI, report stolen devices, and block telecom fraud. Behind this technical framing lies a far more invasive structure. The app demands sweeping access to private data including call logs, messages, storage, contacts and even your camera.

It was designed to be non-removable and immune to restriction, giving the state a direct channel into every new phone sold in the country.

What has happened since?

Once Reuters broke the news, backlash followed. Tech companies said they would not comply. So, does that make tech companies the heroes now? Not at all.

Tech companies opposed the mandate not because it was invasive, but because it challenged their control over the surveillance infrastructure they already operate.

They cooperate with authoritarian states when it suits them. They hand over user data when courts demand it in core capitalist states. They bend to Chinese censorship and comply with US intelligence frameworks. They drew the line in India because the state's demands threatened their global consistency, not because they care about democratic values.

This was not a stand against surveillance. It was a turf war over who gets to run it.

This Is Part of a Larger Pattern

In 2020, the Indian government forced workers to install Aarogya Setu, a COVID tracking app that collected personal data without consent. After public criticism, the policy was quietly diluted.

In 2023, the state tried to impose import restrictions on laptops under the guise of national security. After international pressure, it withdrew the plan. These failed efforts show a state that repeatedly tests the limits of control. Each time, it steps back when the cost of enforcement becomes too high.

Why this is not a victory

The revocation of Sanchar Saathi is not proof that surveillance was defeated. It is proof that the attempt was premature. The state will return with more subtle, embedded, and difficult-to-resist forms of digital control. There is no lasting win here. Only a reminder that resistance must continue and deepen.

What This Means for India’s Future

This retreat does not mean the state has given up. It means it will try again with better tools and stronger legal cover. Future attempts may include surveillance hardwired into the operating system, telecom-side data interception, or biometric linkages to national ID systems. We do not know.

Underneath it is the same goal, which is to centralise control over data, restrict the flow of information and prevent collective action.

Surveillance is not a bug in the system. It’s the feature 😀

Implications for Southeast Asia

India’s failure offers a lesson for other governments in the region. Surveillance must appear legitimate, invisible, and inevitable. When it becomes too obvious or too clumsy, it invites revolt.

Many ASEAN states already rely on vague cybercrime laws to suppress opposition. With the UN Cybercrime Treaty, they will gain new legal tools to expand surveillance and criminalise dissent.India’s stumble shows the path is not uncontested. Resistance is possible. But only if movements understand that this is not just a legal issue. It is a geopolitical and class struggle over the digital means of control.

Organising Against Digital Dictatorship

The fall of Sanchar Saathi proves resistance is possible. But movements must understand this is not just a legal fight, it is a geopolitical and class struggle over digital power.

We need collective, regional action to protect our digital rights.

Join the movement to #StopDigitalDictatorship!

Since 2020, Manushya has founded and coordinated the ASEAN Regional Coalition to #StopDigitalDictatorship, bringing together digital rights defenders from Southeast Asia to:

🔹 Denounce digital rights violation

🔹 Provide recommendations to uphold online freedom of expression & privacy

🔹 Build knowledge & capacity on digital rights

📣 Learn more here: bit.ly/StopDigitalDictatorship