A BANGLADESH High court has ordered the government to immediately remove all dangerous or harmful games and mobile applications such as TikTok, PUBG, Free Fire, Bigo Live, and Likee, from online platforms in the country for the next three months.
The Dhaka High Court said on Monday that the government needed to put a stop to these games and apps to "save children and adolescents from moral and social degradation".
According to the Dhaka Tribune, the decision came after it heard a petition from a human rights organisation that called for the ban of such games and apps in the country.
The court had also asked the government why such online games and apps should not be banned in Bangladesh.
It also ordered the government and other relevant authorities and individuals, to respond to the ruling within 10 days.
In June, the human rights organisation Law and Life Foundation had sent a legal notice to the government seeking a ban on these games and apps but received no response.
Their lawyers then filed the petition with the High Court.
In the petition, the lawyers said that the country's youths and adolescents were becoming addicted to online games and various online platforms.
Calling the trend "alarming," they said it had adverse effects on the younger generations and also provided opportunities for criminals.
They also called for authorities to identify those involved in the transactions of huge sums of money and also money laundering, using such apps and games.
The petitioners also wanted the court to form a committee with technologists, educationists and lawyers to recommend to the regulatory commission on banning games and apps that were harmful for youths.
Recently in Bangladesh, authorities uncovered a human trafficking racket, run through TikTok, which had trafficked more than 500 young girls to India over the last five years.
The gang's mastermind is now in the custody of the Indian police.
Using the app, the ring had lured young by promising them well-paid jobs across the border but later sold them as sex workers in India.
Their activities came to light after a TikTok video went viral, showing a 22-year-old Bangladeshi girl being tortured.
TikTok has faced increasing regulatory controls from several countries, including Indonesia, India, and Pakistan, and have also been banned for varying periods.
Indonesia had temporarily banned TikTok in July 2018 after the government accused it of spreading "pornography, inappropriate content and blasphemy."
The ban was lifted eight days later after the app providers pledged 20 staff members to censor content in the country.
It was banned in Pakistan but the order was later reversed after TikTok pledged that they would remove objectionable contents.
TikTok remains banned in India since June, 2020. That move came after the border skirmish between China and India in the Himalayas last year.
Indian authorities banned dozens of Chinese apps and games then, saying they posed a security risk.
Nepal had also previously banned PUBG but its Supreme Court later lifted the ban.