Singapore has raised concerns with the Indian government over the ban on popular battle royale game Garena Free Fire, which is owned by Singapore-based Sea Limited, Reuters reported on February 24. Earlier this month, the Indian government issued an order banning an additional 54 apps linked to China stating that they pose a threat to the privacy and security of Indians. The list of banned apps was not made public by the government, but Google confirmed to Sea that Free Fire was banned based on a government order under Section 69A. The day following the ban, Sea's shares plunged 18% in New York, wiping off more than $16 billion from the company’s market value. While China has raised concerns about India's app bans multiple times in the past, this is Singapore's first diplomatic intervention. India's boiler-plate response that the ban was instituted for security reasons might not sell this time because Singapore is not China. Both, the Singaporean and Indian governments did not respond to Reuters for comments. MediaNama has filed an RTI with the IT Ministry asking for a copy of any correspondence received from Singapore on this matter. What are Singapore's concerns? According to Reuters, the Singaporean government has raised the following concerns with India's Ministry of External Affairs, which has routed the same to the IT Ministry: Why was Free Fire banned even though Sea is based out of Singapore? Was the app banned unintentionally? Sea is not a Chinese company, but China's Tencent owns an 18.7 % stake in…
