ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s Telecommunications Authority (PTA) on Friday lifted a ban on the hugely popular online game, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) and live-streaming application Bigo.
“A meeting was held between PTA and legal representatives of Proxima Beta Pte Ltd. (PB). Proxima Beta (PB) representatives briefed the authority on response to queries raised by PTA with respect to controls put in place by PB to prevent misuse of the gaming platform,” the PTA said in a statement on Friday.
It added PB representatives “welcomed the PTA’s feedback on the issue” and assured them that all concerns raised by the regulator “would be taken into account.”
“Keeping in view the positive engagement & response of the company, the authority has decided to unban PUBG,” the statement read.
In a separate statement on Friday, the telecoms regulator said that a meeting was held between PTA officials and Bigo’s Vice President South Asia Operations, Jhon Zhang, who said that the company was “committed to moderate immoral and indecent content in accordance with Pakistani laws.”
“Bigo management assured continued engagement with PTA to address the issue of unlawful content,” the statement added that “as a result of constant engagement and a detailed review by PTA, the Authority has decided to unban the services of Bigo in Pakistan,” it said.
It follows the PTA placing a temporary ban on the online game on July 1 after receiving complaints that it was addictive and had a “serious negative impact on (the) physical and psychological health of the children” who play it.
PUBG, made by South Korean firm Bluehole Inc, is a survival-themed battle game that drops dozens of online players on an island to try and eliminate each other. It was launched in 2017 and has a huge global following.
On July 21, PTA also said it had banned the Singaporean live-streaming app Bigo over “immoral, obscene and vulgar content” and issued a last warning to Chinese video sharing platform Tiktok for “similar” reasons.
