PUBG Corporation’s PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was initially banned by a Telecommunications Authority in Nepal back on April 11th, 2019. A week later the Nepalese Supreme Court interceded and stayed the ban from the district government after they received a petition from the people claiming that banning PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was unconstitutional.
The Himalayan Times reported on April 19th, 2019 that the Supreme Court looked over the information after receiving the petition, and noted that the ban did not align with their constitution. In fact, in Nepal, the people are guaranteed rights to the freedom of expression and the freedom of press. It was argued that since PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was a form of entertainment played via internet, it was a form of expression, and that by banning it the government was in violation of the constitution.
The Supreme Court upheld this argument and stayed the government’s ban from moving forward.
Lowyat reported that it wasn’t made clear if the ban was completely overturned or just stayed for now. They do point out that it’s a much better response than Iraq’s response to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, where they stated that the game needed to be banned for “igniting violence” in the country’s youth. Because obviously radicalized religion was never a problem for inciting violence in that region… (cue the gif of The Rock rolling his eyes).
The game was also banned in certain districts of India, too. The reason being? It was too addictive. I could at least understand their reasons over the ones proposed by Iraq. Even still, banning something for being too addictive instead of encouraging parents to… well, parent… seems asinine.
Anyway, this is a minor bit of good news for those of you out there who value freedom of speech and freedom of expression. It’s been under severe attack lately from Social Justice Warriors and out-of-touch prudes, so it’s nice to see that the government is actually working for the people in some capacity for once.
(Thanks for the news tip Vic)
(Main image courtesy of Iceberg)
