Bangladesh Court Reportedly Orders Suspension of PUBG Mobile and Free Fire Within The Country

The Bangladesh High Court has directed the government to ban Free Fire and PUBG Mobile for at least three months. This comes a few months after reports had surfaced about multiple governmental bodies like the Bangladesh Telecommunication Regulatory Commission, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Home Affairs recommending the discontinuation of both PUBG Mobile and Free Fire within the country due to the addiction they had created among teenagers and young adults. Both these mobile Battle Royales are very popular in South Asia, but have faced criticism for reportedly having a negative impact on young kids and teenagers like apparently making them violent, causing anxiety, and even lack of concentration.

PUBG Mobile, Free Fire banned in Bangladesh for three months

In late May, multiple Bangladeshi governmental bodies had taken a strict stance against mobile Battle Royale games PUBG Mobile and Free Fire, claiming them to be addictive in nature because of which they were negative affecting both teenagers and young adults.

Taking action in support of these reports while also seeking a ban of online livestreaming platforms and video sharing applications, Bangladesh Supreme Court layers - Mohammad Humayun Kabir Pallab and Barrister Mohammad Kawser reportedly sent a notice to the government on 19^th June.

As per GemWire, they had demanded that a an be imposed on games and applications like PUBG Mobile, Free Fire, TikTok, and more. Having received no response from the concerned authorities both these lawyers then approached the Bangladesh High Court, filing a petition and seeking a ban on the applications mentioned above.

Today on 16^th August 2021 as reported by The Daily Star, the Bangladeshi High Court bench consisting of Justice Md Mozibur Rahman Miah and Justice Md Kamrul Hossain Mollah has reportedly passed an order to the concerned authorities to immediately ban PUBG Mobile and Free Fire for three months.

This has been a result of the petition filed by the two Supreme Court lawyers and as per reports also includes a few other applications like TikTok along with the gaming titles mentioned above, as the High Court has deemed them as being dangerous.

This comes just a few weeks after a Parliamentarian in Nepal had urged the government to ban popular mobile battle royale games - Free Fire and PUBG Mobile, while speaking at the 'Zero Hour' in Nepal's House of Representatives. The reason reportedly being that these games may cause mental health problems, especially in children.

Also, this is not the first time that PUBG Mobile has had to face such resistance from Bangladeshi authorities. As per a report by Dhaka Tribune, PUBG Mobile in October last year had gone through a brief ban period (less than a day), due to growing concerns around the game’s negative impact on youth.