The government has decided to ban another 47 apps that were operating as the clones of the 59 Chinese apps banned last month. According to media reports, these apps were violating India’s data protocol and were compromising the data safety of users. The Ministry of Electronics and IT’s new ban is aimed at those apps that were facilitating access to previously banned services such as TikTok and Cam Scanner. The government has now drawn up a list of another 275 Chinese apps, to be examined for possible violations of national security and user privacy.

The list includes popular gaming app PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), backed by Chinese internet company Tencent, short video sharing application Zili, which is owned by phone-maker Xiaomi, AliExpress by eCommerce giant Alibaba, as well as apps like Resso and ULike from TikTok-owner ByteDance.

Is PUBG a Chinese app?

Back in 2017, PlayerUnknown’s Battleground was initially made available for Microsoft Windows via the Steam store. The game was developed and published by PUBG Corporation, a subsidiary of South Korean video game company Bluehole.

However, later, the Korean developer partnered with China’s biggest gaming company which is Tencent, to enter the gaming market in China. Tencent Games is a part of Tencent Holdings, which is a Chinese multinational conglomerate. Tencent was the one to introduce the mobile version of PUBG MOBILE, and that somehow makes it a Chinese app.

For PubG, India is its largest market, according to app intelligence firm Sensor Tower estimates, generating about 175 million installs to date, or 24% of the total downloads.

Companies With Chinese Investments

While banning the 59 Chinese apps — following a violent face-off between the armed forces of the two countries on June 15 — India cited threats to national security and public order. China criticized the move, saying it was “strongly concerned” about the ban.