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PUBG Mobile is an extensively famous online multiplayer shooting game among 18 Chinese apps. This game blocked by the Government on Wednesday 02 Sept amid tension over fresh Chinese provocation in Ladakh. The move is in the interest of integrity and sovereignty of India security and defense, the government said in a statement.
As per IT Ministry, the Apps “are indulged in activities which are prejudicial to integrity and sovereignty of India, security and defense of India, the security of the state as well as public order”.
By banning PUBG and these 18 apps, the IT Ministry of India said that “this move will really help “safeguard the interests of crores of Indian mobile and internet users. Ministry also said this decision is a targeted move to assure the security, sovereignty, and safety of Indian cyberspace.
In a measure of PUBG’s wide popularity in India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while an even on exam stress last year, had a statement to a mother complaining about her teen: “Yeh PUBG- wala hai kya (Is he a PUBG player)”.
In June, the government banned 59 mobile apps consisting of Bytedance’s TikTok, Alibaba’s UC Browser, and Tencent’s WeChat, also citing in security concerns.
“The Ministry of Information and Electronics Technology has got many complaints from several sources consisting various reports about the misuse of some mobile applications available on iOS and Android to steal and surreptitiously transmitting the data of users in an unauthorized manner to the servers that have locations outside of India,” the Indian ministry said in a statement. “There has been a strong chorus in the public space to go ahead with strict action against those applications which are the reason for the harm of sovereignty of India and the security of our citizens.”
The statement has explained that there were a number of complaints that were received from several sources and included reports about the misuse of mobile applications that were available on iOS and Android platforms. The complaints discussed the hacking and stealing as well as transferring the user’s data in an unauthorized manner to servers that were located outside of India.
The statement said, “the compilation of these data, it’s mining, and profiling by the elements aggressive to national security and defense of India that ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and quick concern that needs emergency measures”.
The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre under the Ministry of Home Affairs has also sent in a comprehensive recommendation for blocking these malicious apps. It also stated, “Likewise, there have been similar bipartisan concerns, flagged by several representatives, both inside and outside the Indian Parliament”.
PUBG Ban in India: What Happens Next
Every fan of PUBG game is thinking that what will happen in the case of PUBG Mobile is going to be a story similar to what has happened to TikTok. In the next few hours, or a day or so, when Google and Apple get notification from the government’s end, they will have to remove PUBG from their app stores for the Indian users. People who have already installed PUBG will continue to have the application on their phones, but it might work as telecom companies such as Jio and Airtel will block PUBG connection to the servers after they get a notice from the government. Because PUBG Mobile allowed in India again, it isn’t going to happen anytime soon and this is due to the ban is a direct result of the struggle of India against Chinese aggression on the border and unless that isn’t fixed and India is unlikely to allow the use of banned Chinese applications in the country.
“On the basis of these and upon receiving of current credible inputs which information posted, functionality embedded, permissions sought, as well as data harvesting practices of above-stated Applications raise serious concerns that these apps gather and share data in a surreptitious manner and compromise personal and private data and information of the users that can have a strict threat to the state security“ the statement read.
The government said that the home ministry’s center of cybercrime had also suggested blocking these “malicious apps”. The other Apps blocked include games, dating sites, online payment services, and software to edit selfies.
Ever since “Boycott China” – and variations of it – has also trended on Twitter in India as a growing number of people post videos demonstrating the destruction of Chinese-made Smartphones, TVs, and other products.
In April, India also made a change to its foreign investment policy which needs Chinese investors – who have plowed a huge amount of dollars into India start-ups in current years – to take approval from New Delhi before they could write advanced checks to Indian firms. The move has considerably reduced Chinese investors’ availability in Indian start-up’s deal flows in the months since.
PUBG Ban in India: Can you still play it
Yes and no, when we discuss PUBG, we miss that there are two PUBG applications. Originally the game was made for the PCs by a South Korean organization. This game remains available in India but it can run only on the desktop and laptops. The PUBG Mobile Lite and PUBG Mobile are the games made by Tencent, a Chinese company, under license from the Korean company and these two apps have been banned.
