In India, Free Fire and 53 other applications associated with Chinese companies were blocked
The Indian authorities continue to ban applications that are supported by Chinese companies. They blocked 54 more projects in the country, including the royal battle of Free Fire.
This is reported by the TechCrunch portal with reference to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of India. As in all previous cases, the reason for the ban was a potential threat to the national security of the country.
While the ban is temporary. However, how long it will last is not explained.
It should be noted that officially the government of India has not yet announced a fresh ban. But Google has already confirmed that it has received an order from the ministry and blocked unwanted applications in its store. Apple did not comment on the incident, however, it probably also fulfilled the requirement of regulators. At least Free Fire is no longer in either the Indian Google Play or the Indian App Store.
A person close to Garena (the developer of Free Fire) told TechCrunch that the ban on the game in India was an unpleasant surprise for the company. She was preparing for deals with local esports organizations that could help with the promotion of the Battle royale.
Previously, Free Fire had a strong position in India. According to App Annie, in the first half of last year, Free Fire accounted for the most spending by Indian gamers. Also, as of January 2022, more than half of the game’s MAU were users from India – 40 million out of 75 million people.
Although Garena is a Singaporean, not a Chinese company, the ban on its project is still indirectly related to China. Garena is a “daughter” of the Sea technology corporation, about 20% of whose shares belong to the Chinese giant Tencent. According to TechCrunch, this was the basis for the Free Fire ban.
In addition to Free Fire, the list of newly blocked apps in India includes games such as Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade, Isoland 2: Ashes of Time, Astracraft, Onmyoji Arena and Conquer Online. Some of the currently banned applications are clones of other projects that were previously banned in India. These include, for example, Sweet Selfie HD and Beauty Camera photo editors.
54 Chinese Apps banned by Indian Government including Tencent owned apps and Beauty Camera Selfie App
Full List of 54 Chinese Apps courtesy @MajorPoonia #54ChineseApps #ChineseApps pic.twitter.com/H8FKFEYuis
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) February 14, 2022
Recall that the Indian authorities began to massively ban applications associated with Chinese companies in September 2020. They justified this decision by protecting the sovereignty and integrity of the country. According to officials, the Chinese illegally transferred confidential data of Indian users to foreign servers. Since then, over 300 applications have been blocked in India.
To date, only one blocked application is known to have been able to return to India. This is PUBG Mobile. It took him nine months to return.
