NGO Demands Battlegrounds Mobile India Ban, Appeals to Ministry

It appears that Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) has come under fire again as the NGO Prahar has called for the game to be banned. The NGO claims that the creators of PUBG Mobile tried to mislead the government by releasing the same game (published by the Chinese gaming company Tencent) under a different name – BGMI.

The NGO claims that Tencent still retains control of the publishing operations and that Krafton is merely a deputy publisher. In a letter to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Abhay Prahar, President of Prahar, writes that Krafton is just a replacement for Tencent and that the app is still associated with China.

“At the meeting of the board of directors of Krafton Inc on November 26, 2021, Hunil Son was appointed as the representative of Krafton in relation to Battlegrounds Mobile India,” Mishra said in a letter. “At the same time, on November 26, 2021, PUBG India Pvt. Limited has authorized the same Hunil Son to represent PUBG India in connection with Battlegrounds Mobile India by decision of the Board of Directors.”

NGO calls for ban on Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI)

This is not the first time BGMI has come under fire as a PIL (Public Interest Litigation) was filed in Telangana High Court in February to ban the game. PIL sought to ban the game on the same grounds as Prahar, claiming that the game was practically the same game as PUBG Mobile but under a different name.

MeiTY responded to PIL by introducing Representative N. Samaya Balam, who filed an affidavit confirming that “BGMI”and “PUBG Mobile”are in fact not the same app. In addition, the sworn letter also explains that only the government has the ability and authority to restrict computer access to applications and software.

At the time of writing, neither Krafton nor MeiTY have responded to these allegations.