Relations between south Asian nuclear powers India and China have been tense for the past five months. The border situation between the two countries began to worsen after both sides accused each other of breaches of the 4,057 km Line of Actual Control (LAC) on 27 April.
Amid ongoing tensions on the Chinese border, India on Wednesday added 118 new names to the list of banned Chinese apps, citing national security reasons.
One of these now banned games is the very popular multi-player online game Players Unknown Battleground (PUBG) that had over 175 million downloads in India as of earlier this year.
The news of India banning the game along with 117 other Chinese apps somehow made Wednesday evening a lot funnier on social networking platforms. Hilarious memes on more Chinese apps being banned, including PUBG are trending on Twitter in India.
The “survival of the fittest” idea-based battle game was launched by South Korean company video game company Bluehole in 2017. China’s tech giant Tencent, however, holds shares in PUBG’s parent company leading to its ban in India. The game has been surrounded in controversies since its launch due to its addictive nature.
Pointing out that it adversely affected children’s psyche and their studies, the Gujarat State Commission for Protection of Child Rights in January 2019 issued a letter to the state government seeking a ban on PUBG. The state also urged the Centre to initiate proceedings towards banning the online game.
Over the years, several cases of violence because of PUBG rivalry have hit the headlines in India.
While a number of photo editing, camera modification and minor social networking Chinese apps made it to the fresh ban list in India, this time a significant number of mobile games like Ludo Rush, Chess World, Dang Tank and Art of Conquest and more also making the cut.
In the past months, India has banned several popular Chinese apps like video-making app TikTok, UC Browser, shopping apps SheIn and Club Factory among others.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
