Battle Royale games PUBG and Free Fire may face a ban in Bangladesh in the near future. The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Home Affairs are working together to recommend BTRC to block these two games in the country. They are planning to do so citing concerns over its addiction among teenagers and young adults.
“Nowadays, banning anything is not really a solution. You can always access the banned platforms using VPNs and other methods. In the past, we have provided the ISPs with parental guide tools that allow parents to control their children’s activities on the web. Sadly, banning these games will not change anything dramatically if parents and children are not aware of the dangers they pose,” added the minister while addressing the issue.
However, Minister of Post and Telecommunication, Mustafa Jabbar, says that his ministry has not received any directives regarding the ban. “Neither me nor my ministry, are aware of any such developments. Although we have the tools, we cannot block these sites or games on our own,” said the minister. Recently PUBG was also banned in Nepal and Gujarat of India. In October 2019, PUBG went through another brief ban in Bangladesh.
Many citizens of the net have taken to Twitter and Facebook to praise highly the potential ban, while players have expressed concerns over the move. “We need to act on recommendations from other concerned government or law enforcement agencies. We did not receive any such recommendations as of yet,” said Mustafa Jabbar.
