More than half a dozen VPN apps, including Cloudflare’s widely used version 1.1.1.1, have been removed from India’s Apple App Store and Google Play Store following intervention by government authorities, it has been learned TechCrunch.

India’s Interior Ministry has issued takedown orders for the apps, according to a document reviewed by TechCrunch and a disclosure made by Google to Lumen, the Harvard University database that tracks government takedown requests in the world.

Affected apps include Hide.me and PrivadoVPN. In a communication to one of the affected developers, seen by TechCrunch, Apple cited a “request” from the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Center, part of the Ministry of Home Affairs, which deemed the developer’s content infringing. to Indian law.

The ministry, along with Apple, Google and Cloudflare, did not respond to requests for comment.

This enforcement action marks the first significant implementation of India’s 2022 regulatory framework governing VPN applications. The rules require VPN providers and cloud service operators to keep complete records of their customers, including names, addresses, IP addresses and transaction histories, for a period of five years.

The stringent requirements have prompted major industry players to respond. Big brands like NordVPN, ExpressVPN, SurfShark and ProtonVPN have expressed significant reservations over the rules, with several announcing plans to pull their server infrastructure out of India.

NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and SurfShark continue to offer services to Indian customers, although they have stopped marketing their apps in the country.