Garena Free Fire and NetEase's Badlanders banned in India

Garena Free Fire has a huge fan base in the South East Asian countries, including India. It has a very active community in these regions. However, the Indian government has ordered a ban on Free Fire, Badlanders, and 52 other apps, citing security concerns.

Following the government's orders, the apps have been removed from Google Play and the App Store. Some of the notable games that have been banned include Garena Free Fire, NetEase Badlanders, NetEase Onmyoji Arena, Tencent Xriver, and other apps.

Most of the apps published by NetEase have been removed from the stores. This includes popular games like Badlanders, Astracraft, Onmyoji Arena, Extraordinary Ones, EVE Echoes, and more.

Some other notable games that will no longer be available on Google Play and the App Store are Rise of Kingdoms: Lost Crusade, Conquer Online, Conquer Online II, and Stick Fight: The Game Mobile.

A statement issued by the Government said, "These 54 apps allegedly obtain various critical permissions and collects sensitive user data. These collected real-time data are being misused and transmitted to servers located in hostile country,"

To implement the ban, Google and Apple have been ordered by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to block public access. The bans have resulted in Chinese companies like Tencent decreasing their business in the country.

Since 2020, the Indian government has banned more than 300 apps that had links to China. It started with the IT ministry banning Tik Tok, Shareit, and WeChat among other China-related apps in June 2020. Soon, Tencent’s PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite were banned. By November 2020, the ministry had also banned AliExpress.

As of now, Google and Apple have followed orders and blocked access to the 54 apps mentioned in the latest listing. Garena Free Fire MAX, the premium version of Free Fire, is still available for download in the stores.