When the Indian government banned TikTok in June, the app stopped working in India within days. However, PUBG, which was blocked by the government in September is still working on phones and users are able to play the game.
Launched in 2017, PUBG, Player Unknown's Battlegrounds, is a popular game which can be played on various platforms. TikTok, on the other hand, is a short video-sharing platform where users upload short but creative videos. Both of them have been banned in India, along with 175 other apps, for having Chinese connection.
TikTok ban
India in June banned 59 apps with Chinese links, including hugely popular TikTok and UC Browser, saying they were "prejudicial to sovereignty, integrity and security of the country."
TikTok was taken down from Google Play Store and Apple's App Store and the app stopped working in India.
"The Government of India has issued an interim order for the blocking of 59 apps, including TikTok, and we are in the process of complying with it. We have been invited to meet with concerned government stakeholders for an opportunity to respond and submit clarifications," Nikhil Gandhi, Head of TikTok, India said.
PUBG ban
The government in September blocked 118 more mobile applications, including popular gaming app PUBG, terming them "prejudicial to the sovereignty, integrity and defence of the nation."
The banned apps included Baidu, Baidu Express Edition, Tencent Watchlist, FaceU, WeChat Reading and Tencent Weiyun, besides PUBG Mobile and PUBG Mobile Lite. All these banned apps have Chinese links.
While there is no response from the government or the company, there could be two reasons why PUBG is still accessible by game players.
Inaction by ISP
While TikTok servers were banned by the Internet Service Providers (ISPs), it is likely that PUBG is not banned by the ISPs yet. There is no clarification on this either by the company, the ISPs or the government.
Talks with government
Despite the ban more than a month ago, PUBG Corp has not made any major lay-offs in the regional India office. This, reports said, has to do with its talks with various Indian players for a partnership in the country.
While earlier reports said PUBG was in talks with Reliance Jio, an Entrackr report said it was looking at Airtel for handing over distribution rights to the telecom giant.
