In a move which is ‘in interest of our sovereignty and integrity’ the government said, it has banned PUBG MOBILE, a wildly popular online multiplayer shooting game, among 118 Chinese apps blocked. This was the back of fresh clashes in Ladakh between India and China and rising tensions.
Tencent’s most popular release, PUBG ranks among the world’s top five smartphone games with over 700 million downloads till date. Short for PlayerUnknown’s BattleGrounds, it features a last-man-standing style competition in which shooters face off in a battle royale.
A stripped-down mobile version of the game has taken the smartphone user world by storm, with an enduring popularity among teenagers during lockdown. Such has been its rise, that it has raised concerns of addiction and anti-social behaviour, much before its more security issues.
The IT Ministry said in its statement that these Chinese apps “are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order”.
The latest ban follows the first round of bans by the Government in June, when 59 mobile apps including Bytedance’s TikTok, Alibaba’s UC Browser and Tencent’s WeChat, were also blacklisted due to ‘security concerns.’
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