A total of 118 applications were added to the list of apps banned by the Government of India, terming them "prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity, defence of India, security of state and public order”.The banned apps include Baidu, Baidu Express Edition, Tencent Watchlist, FaceU, WeChat Reading and Tencent Weiyun, besides PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite, according to an official statement.
PUBG is arguably the biggest among the lot, with over 50 million daily users as of March. In terms of downloads in India, it is reported to be upwards of 175 million downloads.
What happens to these apps?
For now, you will be able to access these apps. This is until the government instructs internet service providers (ISPs) and telecom companies to restrict users from being able to access these apps and block them. The companies will also receive a notice from the government, after which they may make it unavailable to users in the country.
Tanu Banerjee, a partner at Induslaw, told Business Insider when the apps were previously banned that users who have already downloaded these apps may see a message citing the government’s order to be the reason to cut off access. “However, similar banning orders have been passed by the government in the past as well, and have often been a challenge to implement practically, since users may be able to view such sites through proxy servers and domains,” she said.
By extension of this order, none of these apps will now receive developer support, and will not be able to access app updates even if they continue to use the app for as long it is working. By running an outdated version on the app, one also puts themselves at risk for cyber attacks.
These apps will soon be removed from the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store after the ministry sends a legal notice.
However, as a consumer, you are not likely to face any fines or consequences if you choose to keep the app, and have no obligation to delete the app. The onus lies on the app, internet service providers and Google or Apple.
The game has been initially created by Bluehole, which is a South Korean organisation. However, the mobile version of the game was co-developed by Tencent — a Chinese conglomeration — and Bluehole. The game is distributed in India by Tencent Holdings. Tencent also holds a stake in Bluehole.
The statement by the government said the IT Ministry had received 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 to servers outside India.
"The compilation of these data, its mining and profiling by elements hostile to national security and defence of India, which ultimately impinges upon the sovereignty and integrity of India, is a matter of very deep and immediate concern which requires emergency measures," the statement said.
The move comes amid fresh border tensions with China in Ladakh.