Soon after the Centre banned the popular PUBG mobile game, memes and fake news started making rounds on the internet. One such post claiming that Nobel laureate Amartya Sen said that the ban on PUBG mobile will ruin the Indian economy had gone viral.
The tweet, reading “Banning of #PUBG will more ruin the Indian economy: Amartya Sen,” garnered major traffic after it was retweeted by former Governor of Tripura Tathagata Roy.
The post was found be fake after economist’s daughter Antara Dev Sen talking to news websites trashed the claim and clarified that Amartya Sen had not given any statement correlating the ban of PUBG to India’s economy.
A similar claim was also made by a blog post on Bharat News, a news website, based on which posts criticising the economist went viral on social media.
The post on the website read, “According to Amartya Sen Babu, shutting down the Chinese app will not be of any benefit to India but the Indian economy will face a huge loss. And banning Chinese apps in India will not harm China.”
There has been no reported news, on Google, claiming Amartya Sen criticised the Narendra Modi-led government for deciding to ban 118 Chinese apps on September 2.
The ban on the apps came amid continuing tensions between India and China, citing concerns over threats to India’s safety and sovereignty. The banned apps included the likes of PUBG Mobile, Dawn of Isles, Ludo World-Ludo Superstar, Dank Tanks, Warpath, InNote and Gallery Vault.
