The government of India has banned 118 mobile apps for iOS and Android. Among them is the wildly popular PUBG Mobile. The reason given is that the apps threaten India’s national security and integrity. It apparently concerns the fact that these apps collect data and send it to China.
This is the reasoning: A ministry in India announces that they are banning 118 mobile apps that “threaten the integrity of India, the defense of India, the security of the state, and public order.”
It is said that these apps are available on iOS and Android. They are stealing users’ data and transmitting it to servers outside of India. This data would then be evaluated by “anti-national elements” and threaten India’s national security.
Therefore, they have now decided to ban a whole range of apps.
Apparently afraid that data will end up in China
What has been banned? There are 118 different apps. If you look through the names, it is quite noticeable that the list is China-heavy:
- For example, 6 games are being banned that have the name of the Chinese company “NetEase”. Overall, it seems that NetEase games are well represented on the list: they are not only Blizzard’s China partner but also a very active mobile gaming publisher.
- There are many popular Chinese mobile games on the list like Arena of Valor (in China an incredibly popular LoL clone) or Knives Out (PUBG clone),
- Furthermore, services from major Chinese tech giants Tencent and Alibaba like “WeChat”, Alipay and “Tencent Watchlist”.
- There’s also a “VPN For TikTok” listed.
The ban on the app now reminds one of loud considerations by US President Donald Trump to ban TikTok in the USA out of fear that data will be transmitted to China.
Ironically, there are also efforts in China to limit mobile games. There, the government is concerned about the health of children. In the country, eye diseases among young people are rampant, allegedly because they stare too much at their smartphones.
PUBG Mobile is said to have even killed people in India
Why PUBG Mobile is so sensitive: India has never been a gaming country. There, neither game consoles nor gaming PCs could establish themselves. This changed with powerful smartphones and PUBG Mobile, which is developed by the Chinese giant Tencent.
- The youth of India has become almost addicted to PUBG Mobile.
- According to data from SensorTower, PUBG Mobile has been downloaded an incredible 175 million times in India (via sensortower).
- The media and government seemed to be completely unsettled by the game at one point. Reports appeared that players were so engrossed in PUBG Mobile that they drank acid instead of water or were struck by trains and died.
Because India apparently still does not have a significant developer scene, the mobile market there is attractive for Chinese, South Korean, and also Western publishers.
India has 1.37 billion inhabitants. The population is statistically extremely young – the average age is estimated to be 28.4 years (via statista). This makes India an incredibly attractive market for gaming publishers.
One can be curious how the Indians will react to the government taking away some of their favorite pastimes. PUBG Mobile seems to be a real phenomenon in India, bringing some explosives with it.
Reports have repeatedly surfaced about how dangerous the game is for the youth of the country:
