By invoking Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, the Government of India has banned PUBG and 118 more applications for the Indian market. Besides PUBG MOBILE Nordic Map: Livik and PUBG MOBILE LITE, applications like WeChat Work and WeChat reading have also been banned by the Ministry of Information & Technology.
The government of India had already banned 59 apps in the month of June 2020. They are said to be ones with Chinese links and thus could harm India’s internal security. Apps like TikTok, UC Browser, and Weibo Topics fall in the category. These applications are prejudicial to “sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, the security of State and Public Order,” the ministry has been quoted as saying this with respect to the decision.
The provisions of the IT act along with the 69A can enable the procedure and safeguard the digital access of Information by the Public. These rules have been started back in 2009. Thus the emergent nature of the threats has prompted such a step from the government all over them again.
The rising tension and political battle with China is being taken seriously by the country and they are trying their best to avoid any leakage of digital data through these games and apps.
The Ministry has reportedly decided on this after receiving many complaints against the misuse of some apps available on Android and iOS which steal data and bypass them in an unauthorized manner to foreign servers. The Indian Cyber Crime Coordination Centre of the Ministry of Home Affairs has also recommended such a ban.
This affects the integrity and sovereignty of the country as a whole. The details have been attached by the ministry as an appendix. All these aim to combat the transgression that China did near the bank of Pangong Tso and this incident is becoming a matter of global concern slowly.
