The Indian government has banned 118 apps from Chinese developers, including PUBG Mobile, citing they were a risk to the nation’s sovereignty, defense, and public order. We recommend using a VPN such as Surfshark if you’re in a country that’s been impacted by these bans.
GamesIndustry.biz reports The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has released a list of 118 apps that the Indian government has blocked. The Apps include Baidu, Tencent Weiyun, Voov Meeting, WeChat, PUBG Mobile, Hide App, Cleaner – Phone Booster, U-Dictionary, VPN for TikTok, MARVEL Super War NetEase Games, Arena of Valor: 5v5 Arena Games, and more.
The reason for the ban was stated as the Apps being “engaged in activities which is prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order.”
“The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has received many complaints from various sources including several reports about misuse of some mobile apps available on Android and iOS platforms for stealing and surreptitiously transmitting users’ data in an unauthorized manner to servers which have locations outside India. The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures.”
Earlier this year in June, the Indian government banned 59 apps, including TikTok and Clash of Kings. It should be noted that there have been border disputes between India and China since May 5th [1, 2, 3].
This is not the first time the TikTok app and Tencent have fallen foul of governments, many taking issues with the app’s owner ByteDance- a Chinese company.
As previously reported, accusations of censorship on topics the Chinese government did not approve of and privacy concerns came to a head with US President Donald Trump stating to journalists “As far as TikTok is concerned, we’re banning them from the United States.” Later, Microsoft confirmed they were “committed to acquiring TikTok” with US government oversight.
On August 6th, PresidentTrump signed an executive order which banned any transaction involving Tencent and ByteDance. The LA Times later reported “A White House official on Thursday night clarified that the executive order concerning WeChat only blocks transactions related to WeChat, not those involving other Tencent holdings.”
Image: PUBG Mobile official website
