The popular mobile game
Battlegrounds Mobile India
(BGMI) is reportedly again under scanner in India. According to a report in News18, the fate of Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) will be determined in the next few weeks. The report claims that a senior official from the Union government’s cybersecurity division — responsible for coordinating with law enforcement agencies — has told the publication that the agency has recommended the BGMI app be discontinued.
Reasons for the proposed ban reportedly include the entry of Pakistani national
Seema Haider
into India and other crimes that have been linked to the game, with sources suggesting that data collected through BGMI could potentially lead to cyberattacks and compromise the country’s security.
Pakistani national Seema Haider is said to have met her partner Sachin Meena on the BGMI platform.
BGMI’s servers are said to be located in the US but agencies want to be sure that there is no movement of data to other servers situated elsewhere.
The ministry is said to have sent a detailed query to the BGMI publisher Krafton and the company’s response is awaited. Krafton is a South Korea based company. The report added that a crucial meeting scheduled for next week may decide the game’s fate in India. At the meeting, Krafton will also present its case, and central agencies will review their stance before deciding the game’s fate. Reports suggest that the company is planning to introduce additional security measures.
Red flags for the security agencies
Instances like Seema Haider’s illegal entry into India, as well as a teenager killing his mother over a dispute related to the game, have raised concerns in an analysis done by an Intelligence agency.
A report from Intelligence agency and communication from the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (Meity) has reportedly pointed out that there were violations that could create cyber threats by harvesting user data for profiling to carry out targeted cyberattacks on Indian users.