Indian ban on PUBG sends shockwaves across social media

In yet another surgical strike on malicious Chinese apps, the Indian government on Wednesday banned 118 apps over national security concerns, including the immensely popular PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) Mobile, Baidu and couple of virtual private networks (VPNs) that allowed access to TikTok that was earlier banned.

Shortly after the news of Indian government’s ban on PUBG came out, the social media was flooded with memes and PUBG became the talking point on various forums.

There has been mixed reaction to the ban in social media. While a section of the users are labeling the ban on PUBG unjustified, others are supporting the ban calling it a step in the right direction and a befitting reply to the evil intentions of the Chinese army that is trying to intrude into Indian territory in Ladakh region.

Some social media users are even urging the government to come out with an indigenous version of PUBG.
"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," the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said in a statement.

The PUBG game, which has more than 600 million downloads and 50 million active players globally, has millions of users, especially young, in India.

PUBG Mobile saw a global revenue gain of $1.3 billion (roughly Rs 9,731 crore) in the first half of this year, bringing its lifetime collection to $3 billion (nearly Rs 22,457 crore) with the highest number of downloads in India which ranks at the top with 175 million installs as people stayed home owing to the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns.


PUBG was not banned in India earlier as it is not entirely Chinese. The game has been created and managed by Bluehole which is a South Korean organisation.

After PUBG became popular, Tencent -- a Chinese conglomerate -- joined hands with Bluehole to market the product in China and started handling a large portion of its distribution. The game is distributed in India by Tencent Holdings.

The ban on PUBG came as it announced the arrival of a new gaming era with its 1.0 version, along with global mobile esports tournament PUBG Mobile Global Championship (PMGC) with a grand prize pool of $2 million (about Rs 15 crore).


Other popular banned apps in the fresh list of banned apps are Baidu and Baidu Express Edition, ShareSave by Xiaomi, WeChat Work, Tencent Weiyun, Tencent Watchlist, Alipay, GO SMS Pro, ZAKZAK Pro and Live, Smart AppLock and Ludo World-Ludo Superstar, among others.

The ministry said that it has decided to block 118 mobile apps in view of information available that "they are engaged in activities which are prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity of India, defence of India, security of state and public order".

The ministry 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 unauthorised manner to servers which have locations outside India.


In July, the government barred 47 Chinese apps from operating in the country, which were largely clones of the previously 59 apps banned in June.

On June 29, the government banned 59 Chinese apps including TikTok, WeChat and UC Browser and Xiaomi's Mi Community over national security concerns amid the border tussle in Ladakh which led to the death of 20 Indian soldiers in the Galwan Valley clash with Chinese PLA troops.

Other Chinese apps in the banned list were Club Factory, SHAREit, Likee, Mi Video Call (Xiaomi), Weibo, Baidu, BIGO LIVE and more.


PUBG was developed by Brendan Greene, who was born in Ireland. He later worked as a photographer and web developer in Brazil.

PUBG went on to become one of the most popular games across the globe. It is estimated that around 227 million users log into the game every month globally. But India was its biggest market according to app intelligence firm Sensor Tower estimates, generating about 175 million installs or 24% of the total downloads.

But the game was not free from controversies. Reports of youths, especially teenagers committing suicide over losing the game or being scolded for playing it were often heard across the country.

The game is also associated with violent behaviour and low academic grades of students. It has also been blamed for changing the behaviour of the people over a period of time. –Gurvinder Singh with inputs from  IANS