PUBG Ban: Government Bans 118 Chinese Apps and Games Including PUBG Mobile, Apus Launcher, Rules of Survival | Technology News

PUBG Mobile, Apus Launcher, Rules of Survival, and 115 other Chinese apps and games have been banned in India. The new app ban comes just a little over a month after the government imposed a ban on 47 Chinese apps that followed the blocking of TikTok and 58 other apps in the country. The ban has been imposed by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) under the provisions of the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking of Access of Information by Public) Rules 2009. The apps banned by the government are claimed to be “prejudicial to sovereignty and integrity” of the country.

The IT Ministry released a press statement on Wednesday to announce the latest Chinese apps ban in the country. The statement said that the ban was imposed after receiving “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.”

“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,” the statement added.

The ministry said that it decided to block the usage of the 118 apps and games using the “sovereign powers” of the central government. Although the banned apps and games including Alipay, Arena of Valor, Knives Out, PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite are still available for download through Apple App Store and Google Play, Apple and Google are likely to pull these apps for Indian users shortly. Telecom operators in the country are also expected to restrict access on the banned apps.

List of the 118 Chinese apps and games banned by the government

Should the government explain why Chinese apps were banned? We discussed this on Orbital, our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or RSS, download the episode, or just hit the play button below.Jagmeet Singh Email Jagmeet
Jagmeet Singh writes about consumer technology for Gadgets 360, out of New Delhi. Jagmeet is a senior reporter for Gadgets 360, and has frequently written about apps, computer security, Internet services, and telecom developments. Jagmeet is available on Twitter at @JagmeetS13 or Email at jagmeets@ndtv.com. Please send in your leads and tips.
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