HIGHLIGHTS:
- In India, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has banned the use of 54 applications.
- Since the banning order was issued, Garena’s Free Fire has vanished from the Google Play Store and App Store.
- The Indian government says that these applications are a threat to residents’ security and privacy.
The Indian government has issued an order prohibiting the use of 54 Chinese applications, stating that they are a threat to Indian security and privacy. Alibaba, Tencent, and NetEase are just a few of the Chinese gaming and IT businesses that have applications. Since word of the ban order broke, the popular mobile battle royale game Free Fire has vanished from India’s Google Play Store and App Store. On Free Fire’s official Discord channel, some Indian players have also experienced login troubles.
Because Tencent owns over 25% of Free Fire’s publisher, Garena, the game was likely banned by the Indian government as a result of this.
The prohibition order was issued by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, which says that the prohibited 54 applications were sending sensitive data of Indian people to Chinese servers.
PUBG Mobile was already prohibited in the nation after the authorities issued a similar ruling. Players in India were able to play PUBG Mobile using VPN even after the game was banned in the nation. In India, players may continue to play Free Fire using the same technique.
Garena and Tencent haven’t said how they’ll deal with the Free Fire restriction. Players have spent many hours and a lot of money on in-game battle passes and cosmetics, and the game has a large user base in the nation.
