Why would PUBG Mobile India ping servers in China after languishing in limbo for so long?
Because thats what has happened until last night, per IGN India, following the relaunch of PUBG Mobile under the new avatar of Battlegrounds Mobile India. The company was able to push a patch on Monday night, merely a day after the issue came to light, that stopped the pings. We have reached out to Krafton for comment. It is so easy not to ping Chinese servers! Its internet is among the worlds most atmanirbhar, with hosting providers going out of their way to ensure that that by default their users data will never touch Chinese soil. Why, Zoom even got into a bit of trouble for routing data through Chinese servers last year, spooking users even in places like the US, which isnt a country thats too inclined to sabre-rattle about data localisation. Not only does India fall into that localisation-loving stock of countries keen on making sure that its citizens data should only be stored in hard drives inside the country, but it also has an adversarial relationship with China. Why then, amid all these circumstances that meant that Krafton was already walking on eggshells, would the company ping a server in China?! Not only is the app pinging servers in China, the servers it is pinging reportedly belong to China Mobile, the countrys largest telecom operator, and Tencent, the very Chinese PUBG publisher which Krafton supposedly disavowed. What happened  As Battlegrounds Mobile India rolls out to more users, a user sniffed the data packets from the app, and discovered that the app was pinging China Mobile servers located in Beijing. On top of this, the app was also pinging anti-cheat and cloud computing services run by Tencent, though it is not clear if these were also located in China. Meenakashi Lekhi, the chairperson of the Joint Committee on the Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019, took note of the issue on Twitter, and said that she would reach out to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology  which announced the PUBG Mobile ban last September  to look into the issue. Damn ! Is this correct, will ask @GoI_MeitY to look into it . https://t.co/JBMZ5jdpUN  Meenakashi Lekhi (@M_Lekhi) June 20, 2021  Timeline of PUBG Mobile/Battlegrounds Mobile India ban  August, 2020: Krafton, the Korean company that owns PUBG and develops the game for PC and consoles, meets with Indian embassy officials to discuss the companys plans in India. Krafton, the Korean company that owns PUBG and develops the game for PC and consoles, meets with Indian embassy officials to discuss the companys plans in India. September, 2020: The game is banned in India along with other Chinese-developed apps. Soon after, Tencents publishing rights for the game are terminated, and Krafton, the Korean company which owns the brand, takes over. The game is banned in India along with other Chinese-developed apps. Soon after, Tencents publishing rights for the game are terminated, and Krafton, the Korean company which owns the brand, takes over. November, 2020: Krafton signs a pact with Microsoft to use Azure servers in India for supporting the game. Soon after, the company announces an intent to invest US$100 million in its operations in the country, and that it will launch a renamed version of the game, PUBG Mobile India, with censored visuals. MEITY maintains a silence on the relaunch, refusing to approve or explicitly block the move. Krafton signs a pact with Microsoft to use Azure servers in India for supporting the game. Soon after, the company announces an intent to invest US$100 million in its operations in the country, and that it will launch a renamed version of the game, PUBG Mobile India, with censored visuals. MEITY maintains a silence on the relaunch, refusing to approve or explicitly block the move. May, 2021: After months of inactivity and shelved marketing promotions, Krafton announces yet another renaming drive, calling the game Battlegrounds Mobile India, retaining much of PUBGs key art and gameplay. No release date is announced. Former MLA and Union Minister of State Ninong Ering asks the government to thwart the relaunch, a demand that is backed by members of both the BJP and the Congress. After months of inactivity and shelved marketing promotions, Krafton announces yet another renaming drive, calling the game Battlegrounds Mobile India, retaining much of PUBGs key art and gameplay. No release date is announced. Former MLA and Union Minister of State Ninong Ering asks the government to thwart the relaunch, a demand that is backed by members of both the BJP and the Congress. June, 2021: After a pre-registration drive in May, the game starts rolling out to some users. Also read