It was a report by a central intelligence agency and a communication from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) that prompted the ban on popular battle royale game Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI).
The report talks about breaches that can create cyber threats by collecting user data for profiling to carry out targeted cyber attacks against Indian users.
WATCH VIDEO: BGMI Ban REAL Reason: Govt officials say it’s a BIG cyber threat to India
According to a senior government official, the app has various problems, but the most important is that it communicates with servers located directly or indirectly in China. Sources also confirmed that other apps that have been “rebranded” are also communicating with servers in China and are under scrutiny.
The move to ask Google to remove the app from the Play Store was taken after multiple analyzes by Indian agencies.
“The analysis also showed that this app has malicious code and also acquires multiple critical permissions that can be abused to compromise user data for camera/microphone surveillance, location tracking and malicious network activities,” a senior government official said to News18 on condition of anonymity.
“Such apps are harmful to India’s sovereignty and integrity and can be very dangerous to India’s security network. The information was shared with us and immediate action was taken without any delay on the part of the government,” an official working in Meity told News18.
The official order to ban BGMI from India is yet to come, but the process has already been initiated by Meity, which is asking the affected companies to remove it from app stores like Google Play.
The company will now present its case and the final decision on a total ban will come out after that.
Developer Krafton said it is working on bringing the game back. In a recent statement, the company said it is committed to the Indian market and is positive about the opportunities in the country. “At KRAFTON, the security and privacy of our user data is of the utmost importance to us. We have always complied with all laws and regulations in India, including data protection laws and regulations, and will continue to comply with them.”
Meanwhile, Google has officially stated that it has received an official order from the government to remove the game. “On receipt of the order, following the established process, we notified the affected developer and blocked access to the app, which remained available on the Play Store in India,” it said.
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Rebranding won’t work
According to senior officials responsible for analyzing such apps, the banned Chinese apps have been rebranded in India but without a server in the country. “These apps were relaunched in India just like old wine in a new bottle, but they did not install any server in India. They also collect data that can be misused, such as location, audio and access to other critical information. BGMI is also a rebranded version of PUBG,” said a senior official. Earlier, too, the government banned several Chinese apps that were rebranded and released under new names.
Constant monitoring
The government, through agencies, closely monitors Chinese apps and analyzes them from time to time.
The government has been consistently banning Chinese apps that allegedly violate various Indian norms. In February this year, 54 additional apps of Chinese origin were banned, underscoring that they posed a “threat to India’s security” as border tensions continued.
Most of them were replicas of apps that were banned by the government after the Galwan Valley clash, but were quietly rebranded and relaunched in India.
With the addition of 54 more banned apps, the total number reaches around 324, which includes the popular Tik Tok and PUBG (an older version), which was forced to collaborate with companies based outside China due to the ban in India.
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