Krafton to Take "Immediate, Concrete Measures" to Address BGMI's Data Handling Concerns

The Early Access version of Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) has been under the scanner after several reports and allegations emerged, indicating that the game was transferring data to foreign countries. AFK Gaming was able to discern that BGMI data was being exchanged with an IP belonging to a Tencent Entity based in Singapore. Following this, Krafton released a statement where it said that it is fully aware of the recent concerns over BGMI’s data handling, was taking them very seriously, and had taken "immediate, concrete measures" to address them. Additionally, the company said that it is working to fully comply with Indian laws and regulations prior to the launch of its new mobile Battle Royale.

You can read Krafton's full statement regarding BGMI’s data handling concerns below.

Krafton's Official Statement on BGMI's Data Transfer Concerns

Krafton stated that it was adhering to the industry's strictest security standards and is working hard to make sure there are no shortcomings throughout the Early Access testing period, in advance of the official release of Battlegrounds Mobile India.

The South Korean company also addressed recent reports of data being transferred to IP addresses in foreign countries by stating that the “data shared to third parties are only to enable certain game features”.

“With privacy, player data safety and protection being our top priority, KRAFTON is taking the concerns raised very seriously and has taken immediate, concrete actions to address this issue,” the company added.

The company stated that it uses third-party solutions to provide unique game features, due to which some game data is shared with third parties. However, the company clarified that this was not in violation of BGMI’s privacy policies where they disclose that "the app (BGMI) may transfer some user data, with users’ consent to the privacy policy and choosing to migrate their accounts. No data has been shared in violation of the privacy policy".

Moreover, Krafton has committed to closely monitoring and protecting any data transferred to unexpected and restricted IP addresses before Battlegrounds Mobile India is officially launched.

The road to BGMI’s official launch has not been smooth with multiple Indian politicians calling for a ban on the game over the last few weeks. Earlier in June 2021, the hashtag #BanBattlegroundsPUBG trended on Twitter India with users requesting the Indian Government to suspend Battlegrounds Mobile India's launch.

However, an RTI filed by Dr Gaurav Tyagi, an assistant professor at JNU affirmed that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) will not preemptively ban the game before its launch and that it would only be banned upon release if it infringed on the sovereignty and integrity of India as per law.