Why is Garena Free Fire Banned in India?

Garena Free Fire is famous worldwide. So is the case of India. The game has millions of players and a significant number of players come from India. The game is a top notch gaming adventure and offers unmatched features and gameplay experience.

India banned Free Fire in the country in February 2022. Although the reasons were not clear why the game was banned, it was banned under the Section 69A of the Information Technology Act by the Indian Government. If you are banned from Free Fire you can give a try to FF Avance server APK where you can enjoy the upcoming charm of free fire.

The ban of the Garena Free Fire was a shock for everyone attached with this game. Before the ban, Garena Free Fire had a very strong user base in India. It had around 40 million active users in India, accounting to half of its total user base. Similarly, players were also very disappointed as they would have difficulties in accessing the game.

Grounds of the Ban

The Garena Free Fire was among 54 apps that were banned in India by the Indian Government. Although the Government did not issue any statement regarding the ban, the Section 16A of the ITA cites reasons such as national security.

The reason that makes the ban on Garena Free Fire even more difficult to understand is that the Free Fire MAX, an advanced version of Garena Free Fire, was not banned. It was still active and available in India. There are many theories floating in the market that try to explain the ban on Garena Free Fire.

The most prevalent theory in the market is that the 54 apps banned by the Indian Government had links to China. It was alleged that the Garena Free Fire was providing Indian user data to Chinese servers.

Moreover, the parent company of Garena Free Fire, Sea Limited, is Headquartered in Singapore. The Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company was born in China, although he moved to Singapore and now holds Singaporean nationality.

The impact of the ban on Garena Free Fire in India was so severe that the Government of Singapore had to raise this matter on the diplomatic level by the Government of India. Another reason that was floating in the market was that, a similar gaming company KRAFTON that owns Battleground Mobile India (BGMI).

KRAFTON sued Garena Free Fire in Indian court accusing the game of plagiarism. It also accused YouTube of allowing plagiarized streams of content related to Garena Free Fire.

Steps by the Developers of Free Fire

Although the ban had a very severe impact on Garena Free Fire. The game was determined to relaunch in India. It acquired servers from Hiranandani India, to make sure that the data of India users does not go through Chinese servers. It has also launched a new version of the game called Free Fire India.

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Conclusion

To conclude, we can say that the Indian Government banned Garena Free Fire due to its links to China and the case Garena Free Fire vs BGMI could also have been a reason. Singapore, which hosts the headquarters of the parent company of Free Fire, Sea Limited also raised this matter with the Government of India. Garena Free Fire has now acquired servers from an India based company and has also launched an India specific version called Free Fire India.