Battlegrounds Mobile India cannot be banned before launch, government responds to RTI
Battlegrounds Mobile India is not even officially launched yet and many people have started demanding to ban it. Recently, people associated with the government wrote a letter to the ministries regarding its ban. Not only this, a JNU professor had also demanded MHA to ban the game through RTI, to which it appears that the government is not planning to ban it before the launch, but it means it’s not that the game can’t be banned.
Dr. Gaurav Tyagi, a professor at Jawaharlal National University (JNU), had filed an RTI in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Ministry of Home Affairs and demanded a ban on the Indian version of PUBG Mobile, Battlegrounds Mobile India. This was followed by his RTI reply by the ministries, which he shared via tweet .
In response to RTI, the Ministry of Home Affairs said that the game cannot be banned before its launch in India. However, it should also be noted that this does not mean that the government cannot ban the game, as the reply further states that after its launch in the country, MeitY have the right to ban the game under Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000.
At the same time, MeitY has only said in its reply that (translated) “Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has no role in allowing the launch of PUBG or any other company/mobile app in India.” The possibility of the game being banned before its launch is negligible, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be banned after its launch. If there is any issue regarding privacy, then it will be a matter of concern for game developer KRAFTON.
Currently the release date of the game has not been shared. According to leaks, the game is to be launched this week. However, KRAFTON opened Early Access today with a very limited number of releases, making it unlikely to release this week. Overall, KRAFTON still has time for the company to discuss its policies with the government, so that the game does not face any kind of ban after launch.
Clearly, the reply of the ministry must have come as a disappointment to Gaurav Tyagi. Tyagi says that if the game is allowed to be re-launched, other banned Chinese apps such as TikTok, WeChat, etc. may also try to re-enter India in a similar fashion with a changed name and a few changes.
