The High Court of Bangladesh has passed an order to remove all “dangerous or harmful” mobile applications in the country, including PUBG Mobile and Free Fire, to the relevant authorities in the country. Apps like TikTok and Likee are also seen on the list and they might be banned on the pretext of being ‘addictive in nature’.
According to a report by Dhaka Tribune, Secretaries of the Posts, Telecommunications and Information Technology Ministry, chairman of the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission (BTRC), secretaries of the Education Ministry, Law Ministry, Health Ministry, the inspector general of police, Bangladesh Bank, bKash, Nagad and 18 other individuals were urged to respond to this court order.
A legal notice was reportedly sent to the government on 19th June and after not receiving any response, a petition was filed in High Court on 24th June.
The petitioners termed these games and applications as addictive, saying that the country’s youth and adolescents are addicted to online games such as PUBG and Free Fire and other online apps like Tiktok, Likee and Bigo Live.
South Asian countries have seen multiple instances of such applications being banned in the last couple of years. India took a similar action and banned PUBG Mobile alongside TikTok in September 2020 and Pakistani government also banned PUBGM but it was lifted in a short while.
The government of Bangladesh has not taken any definitive stance yet but some action is expected to be taken in the next few days.
