With a heavy heart, we came bearing news that- ‘The Last Hope,’ of many Indian youngsters during this pandemic died today. To clarify, the Ministry of Information and Technology banned the most trending and loved mobile game application PUBG. In addition to 117 other apps.
This action is taken on account of two reasons:
- Firstly, due to alleged theft and transmission of users’ data as well as their personal information in an unauthorized manner to servers, which possibly had locations outside India.
- Secondly, the fresh tension between India and China following Beijing’s provocation in eastern Ladakh.
The public was asking the government to take down these harmful apps, which are a threat to the citizen’s privacy and the nation as well. Now, the PUBG is banned from India, and I am sure, while a massive number of youngsters might be banging their heads on the wall. Meanwhile, their parents must be bringing out the crackers to burn and celebrate. It seems that this Ganesh Chaturthi, while ascending to Heaven, The Lord Ganesha at last answered the prayers of many Indian parents’.
The Statement From IT Ministry Of India:
On 02 SEP 2020 5:26 PM, PIB (Press Information Bureau) Delhi, posted- The Statement from the Ministry of Information and Technology, and the statement reads as follows:
“The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India invoking its power under section 69A of the Information Technology Act read with the relevant provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009 and in view of the emergent nature of threats has decided to block 118 mobile apps (see Appendix) since in view of information available they are 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”.
“The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre, Ministry of Home Affairs has also sent an exhaustive recommendation for blocking these malicious apps.. Likewise, there have been similar bipartisan concerns, flagged by various public representatives, both outside and inside the Parliament of India. There has been a strong chorus in the public space to take strict action against Apps that harm India’s sovereignty as well as the privacy of our citizens.”
“On the basis of these and upon receiving of recent credible inputs that information posted, permissions sought, functionality embedded as well as data harvesting practices of above stated Apps raise serious concerns that these Apps collect and share data in surreptitious manner and compromise personal data and information of users that can have a severe threat to security of the State.”
“In the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India and security of the State. And using the sovereign powers, the Government of India has decided to block the usage of certain Apps, used in both mobile and non-mobile Internet enabled devices. These apps are listed in the attached appendix.”
“This move will safeguard the interests of crores of Indian mobile and internet users. This decision is a targeted move to ensure safety, security and sovereignty of Indian cyberspace.”
Other Banned Apps:
In June 2020, India banned 59 Chinese apps. Following this move, the next number of banned apps in July 2020 was 47. In the same vein on September 2, 2020, India’s ministry of information and technology confirmed banning another 118 apps, including PUBG.
Besides PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite, some of the other banned apps are:
- Baidu
- Baidu Express Edition
- Tencent Watchlist
- FaceU
- WeChat Reading
- Government WeChat
- VooV Meeting – Tencent Video Conferencing
- Tencent Weiyun
- Lamour- Love All OVer The World
- Super Clean – Phone Booster Master of Cleaner,
- Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade
- Game of Sultans
- Art of Conquest: Dark Horizon
- Gallery Vault- Hide Pictures And Videos
- Smart AppLock (App Protect)
- Message Lock (SMS Lock)
- AppLock
- Beauty Camera Plus- Sweet Camera & Face Selfie
- Hide App-Hide Application Icon
- Parallel Space Lite – Dual App
Some of the past surveys and reports convey that India’s number of active PUBG players is nearly 33 million, making it the top-ranking and most popular apps downloaded.
PUBG reportedly clocked at least 13 million users each day, but it is certain now that there will be 0 reported clocks from INDIA.