New Delhi: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has received several reports stating that apps that were banned in the country are reappearing in a new avatar with similar names and functions, Minister of State (MoS) for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar said in Rajya Sabha on Friday.
The Union Minister in a written reply further stated the said reports have been forwarded to the Union Home Ministry (MHA), for examination. "There are various reports and grievances received by Ministry of Electronics and Infomation Technology (MeitY), conveying that apps that were blocked are appearing with a new avatar by using similar sounding names or rebranded with the same functionality," stated Chandrasekhar.
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He further stated that the MeitY follows the due process as defined in the Information Technology (Procedure and Safeguards for Blocking for Access of Information by Public) Rules, 2009. The Union Minister stated that there was a media report that a child has killed his mother based on PUBG that he has been playing adding that it is a matter of investigation by LEAs to find the reason. "But, the PUBG gaming app was blocked by MeitY in the year 2020 and the PUBG game is not available in India since then," stated Chandrasekhar.
"MeitY has issued blocking directions to many 3rd party app stores including Google Play Store and Apple Store to block the apps under Section 69A of the IT Act 2000. Further, Internet Service Providers (ISPs) were also served with blocking directions through the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to block related domains and IPs through which the blocked apps were communicating," he added.
