Battlegrounds Mobile India can't get banned in India before it's launched

Battlegrounds Mobile India has most Indian mobile gamers and streamers excited but some people in the government seem to want to stop the game by imposing a ban even before it launches.

But some light was shed on the matter after a response from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to an RTI filed by a critic, Dr Gaurav Tyagi, an assistant professor at JNU.

Was informed that neither MHA nor MeitY has given any specific permission for re-launch.This becomes problematic because tomorrow other apps like TikTok, WeChat can just change their name and structure and re-launch without addressing the underlying security issues.June 13, 2021

The ministry has clarified that it cannot ban a game even before it's launched in India. But it did mention that it can ban the game once it's launched under section 69A of the Informations Technology Act, 2000.

In its response to the RTI, the IT ministry wrote, "Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology has no role in granting any permission for entry of PUBG or any company/Mobile app in India."

While the Ministry of Home Affairs wrote in its statement, "MHA does not grant permission for launching any app. Meity issues blocking direction for any mobile applications under the provisions of section 69A of the Information Technology Act,2000 and its rules namely the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information for Public) Rules, 2009, in the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, security of state and defence of India etc. Regarding vii, CPIO is not supposed to provide opinion under RTI Act."

This clearly means that while Krafton is in the clear before it launches the game, it runs the risk after it's launched. This also means that Krafton has time to sort out issues before the launch of the game.

On the other hand, Tyagi writes that if Krafton get's away this then it's problematic since, "TikTok, WeChat can just change their name and structure and re-launch without addressing the underlying security issues."

For now, Battlegrounds Mobile India does not have a launch date yet, but it available for pre-registration since May 18.