Battlegrounds Mobile India Sends Data to Servers Outside Country, May Include China; CAIT Demands Ban

Battlegrounds Mobile India is now available on Early Access and over 5 million downloads were achieved within a day of it going live. The privacy policy of the game mentions that data is stored in servers located in Singapore and India, but it may transfer user data to other countries to operate the game service or to meet legal requirements. A fresh report also claims that data is being sent and received to servers in China, Hong Kong, US, and Moscow. In a bid to make a comeback in the Indian market, the game makers had promised to cut all ties with China last year.

The privacy policy page of Battlegrounds Mobile India clearly states that Krafton ‘”may transfer your data to other countries and/or regions to operate the game service and/or to meet legal requirements. The legal basis for such processing is compliance with a legal obligation to which we are subject to or are legitimate interests, such as exercise or defence of legal claims.” The company says that while personal information will be stored and processed on servers located in India and Singapore, in the event that it has to transfer it to another country or region, Krafton will “take steps to ensure that your information receives the same level of protection as if it remained in India.”

As per a report by IGN India, the data was sent and received by the Battlegrounds Mobile India APK to servers in several other regions, including China. The data was reportedly sent to China Mobile Communications servers in Beijing, the Tencent-run Proxima Beta in Hong Kong, as well as Microsoft Azure servers located in the Mumbai, Moscow, and the US. Battlegrounds Mobile India reportedly also notifies a Tencent server in Beijing when booting up the game.

Last year, the Indian government banned over 250 apps and websites under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, 2000, following an increase in geo-political tensions between China and India. PUBG Mobile was one of the games banned back then, and it has now been revived back as Battlegrounds Mobile India. Krafton had promised to cut ties with China-based Tencent and invest over $100 million (roughly Rs. 741 crores) in the country.

Even Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) has written a letter to Union IT and Communication Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad to demand a ban of Battlegrounds Mobile India in the country. As per the letter seen by Gadgets 360, CAIT reiterates that data is being sent to countries outside India where the Indian law is not applicable. Further, it says that the app has multiple features from the banned versions and even the app package for this game on Play Store has pubg.imobile for pre-registration. CAIT even urges Google to delist Battlegrounds Mobile India from Play Store.