Esports
Why was BGMI banned in India?
On the 28th of July, a Union prohibition on a popular mobile game, Battlegrounds Mobile India was declared under Section 69A of IT Act which has massively impacted the Indian gaming Community. A new piece of information was released by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to spread awareness about the topic. The CIA detailed the violations that could create cyber threats by “harvesting user data for profiling to carry out targeted cyber-attacks on Indian users”.
Why was BGMI banned: The Union’s involvement
The game was banned on the orders of a report by a Central Intelligence Agency and an official letter from the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the potential cyber threats that can be carried out by BGMI to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The Ministry has previously expressed its suspension of the game in the 2022 Monsoon session of the parliament.
The Central Intelligence Agency also gave out a press release, quoting a senior Indian government official who revealed that the BGMI app had several issues and most importantly it was found to have been “communicating with Chinese servers directly or indirectly”. Also, other apps which were rebranded were also found communicating with Chinese servers. Not to forget mentioning that, the Government of India’s move to ask Google and Apple to remove the app was carried out only after multiple rounds of analysis and research.
Some senior government officials who were involved in the analysis of these rebranded apps claimed that these apps have simply been rebranded in India without any server in the country. “They collect data that can be misused like location, audio, and access to other personal and critical information. Battleground mobile India is also a rebranded version of Player Unknown’s Battleground Mobile,” a senior official said.
Post this official statement, many users have expressed their grief about the game’s ban.
Why was BGMI banned: Data security
The analysis also reported that BGMI had “malicious code” and that it acquired an array of confidential permissions which could be misused since users allow the app to use the device’s camera, and microphone besides tracking their location.
According to Monk, Krafton also issued an official statement on the BGMI ban on 30th July, stating, “At KRAFTON, Inc. the security and privacy of our user data are of utmost importance to us. We have always been compliant with all laws and regulations in India including data protection laws and regulations and will continue abiding by them.” The company has kept its word to update its player base with more detailed information. The final discretion on the state of BGMI will be decided after Krafton presents its case to the Government of India within the 14 days period.
Source : Villager Esports & Krafton
On the 28th of July, a Union prohibition on a popular mobile game, Battlegrounds Mobile India was declared under Section 69A of IT Act which has massively impacted the Indian gaming Community. A new piece of information was released by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to spread awareness about the topic. The CIA detailed the violations that could create cyber threats by “harvesting user data for profiling to carry out targeted cyber-attacks on Indian users”.
Why was BGMI banned: The Union involvement
The game was banned on the orders of a report by a Central Intelligence Agency and an official letter from the Indian Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the potential cyber threats that can be carried out by BGMI to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology. The Ministry has previously expressed its suspension of the game in the 2022 Monsoon session of the parliament.
The Central Intelligence Agency also gave out a press release, quoting a senior Indian government official who revealed that the BGMI app had several issues and most importantly it was found to have been “communicating with Chinese servers directly or indirectly”. Also, other apps which were rebranded were also found communicating with Chinese servers. Not to forget mentioning that, the Government of India’s move to ask Google and Apple to remove the app was carried out only after multiple rounds of analysis and research.
Some senior government officials who were involved in the analysis of these rebranded apps claimed that these apps have simply been rebranded in India without any server in the country. “They collect data that can be misused like location, audio, and access to other personal and critical information. Battleground mobile India is also a rebranded version of Player Unknown’s Battleground Mobile,” a senior official said.
Post this official statement, many users have expressed their grief about the game’s ban.
Why was BGMI banned: Data security
The analysis also reported that BGMI had “malicious code” and that it acquired an array of confidential permissions which could be misused since users allow the app to use the device’s camera, and microphone besides tracking their location.
According to Monk, Krafton also issued an official statement on the BGMI ban on 30th July, stating, “At KRAFTON, Inc. the security and privacy of our user data is of utmost importance to us. We have always been compliant with all laws and regulations in India including data protection laws and regulations and will continue abiding by them.” The company has kept its word to update its player base with more detailed information. The final discretion on the state of BGMI will be decided after Krafton presents its case to the Government of India within the 14 days period.
Why was BGMI banned: The Other Angle
After the sudden ban of BGMI, the stock evaluation of developer Krafton decreased, dropping to 913.02 INR and then to 13,970.34 INR on the morning of 29th July. This was a 6.13% deficiency in the company’s stock value, followed by a 9% decline on July 28th. Clearly, Krafton had to bear a sharp decline in stock valuation. However, interestingly the prohibition was carried out just days after Krafton had invested millions worth of funds in its Indian market. This “coincidence” can impact India’s image in the vision of foreign investors, portraying a wrong idea about the country.
Not only this the company had also opened an Indian Head Office just days before the ban, adding to its countless losses. Check out an employee celebrating the opening of the office, unaware of what the company was about to face.
Another argument about the ban of both BGMI and PUBG is that the fellow companies funded by Tencent and other Chinese entities are still on a run, with little to no expectations of being banned. Meaning the idea of “Chinese influence apps” only exists for esports?
Source Image : Inc4
While the debate seems to be never-ending, we would love to read your opinion about the ban. Do let us know in the comments!
