After the ban, Chinese apps including PUBG are no longer available on the App Store and Google Play in India, but some users can still able to play
After 118 apps were banned in September, a total of 224 Chinese apps have been banned in India so far in 2020. The ban on Chinese mobile apps in India is strongly contested by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce, released on Thursday. The legal interests of Chinese investors and service providers have been violated by Indian actions and India has been asked to correct its mistakes said by the Ministry of Commerce spokesman, Gao Feng.
Another 118 mobile applications, mostly Chinese, were banned in India, which include the popular PUBG Mobile video game from Tencent, which citing data security issues. The ban on mobile apps was announced the next day after increasing tension between Indians and Chinese near the Himalayan border. The first PUBG ban occurred in March 2019.
No comments were made by Tencent on the announcement and no immediate response to a request was made by the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi. The applications were a threat to India’s sovereignty and security, according to India’s technology minister.
The data is collected and shared surreptitiously by these applications, the personal data and information of users are compromised, which can pose a threat to the security of the state, according to a statement by the technology ministry.
In India, this ban is a blow to Tencent, to which the game PUBG Mobile battle royale game is a smash hit in the country with the highest number of downloads in India worldwide, representing about 24% (175 million installations) of the total, according to application analyst SensorTower.
59 Chinese apps were banned for the first time in June 2020 in India, including the popular ByteDance video-sharing app called TikTok, Tencent’s WeChat, and UC Browser of Alibaba.
This ban was referred by India’s technology minister as a “digital strike” after the Himalayan border dispute. The business operations of several Chinese companies in India were paralyzed by Indian bans. This is not only a negative sign for Chinese companies and investors in India, but those who wait for a favorable climate to invest in India may also withdraw.
The day after 117 banned Chinese apps, the PUBG mobile game is no longer available on the App Store and Google Play. On September 4, the game is still working for those who have already downloaded it. Tencent is trying to reach out to the Indian government to get PUBG back because India is one of the biggest PUBG players. But it seems difficult for Tencent because large applications like TikTok and the UC browser are still blocked in the country.
