Gaming Unicorn MPL Bans Over 1 Mn Fake Accounts In 2022

Mobile gaming unicorn MPL has banned more than 1 Mn fake users account on its platform so far in 2022. The said accounts are permanently banned on the platform.

The move has been taken to remove users that do not comply with the rules set by MPL and resort to unfair means to manipulate gameplay outcomes in their favour, shared by the startup. 

The development comes months after MPL laid off 100 employees working across various verticals. In addition, it exited the Indonesian market and permanently ceased streaming services on its mobile app.

“This move is aligned to our player-first approach and also highlights MPL’s zero tolerance towards users who resort to illegal practices to alter gameplay results and gain an unfair advantage.With initiatives like this, MPL is poised to continue being a safe and user friendly platform that is trusted by the users,” said, Ruchir Patwa, VP security and compliance of MPL.

Some of the prime reasons for blocking users accounts include creation of multiple accounts by an individual user, uploading fake KYC documents, using unauthorised payment methods such as stolen cards, and manipulating the results of gameplay. 

MPL claims to get SHIELD trust certification, which attested that the startup has more than 96.57% genuine users on its platform.

To offer free gameplay experience, the startup said that its ‘buy bounty program’ offers INR 10 Lakh to security researchers to report vulnerabilities on the platform. Besides, it has also rolled out a loss protection policy where users can claim for 100% refund for the loss they incurred after 10 games.

In June, the startup changed its ESOP and employee pay package structure so as to attract talent and retain existing employees. Prior to this, it bought GameDuell to expand operations in international markets. 

MPL’s recent move is akin to what tech colossals such as WhatsApp, Twitter and Google have been doing for some time now. In a bid to abide by the Centre’s transparency report regulation, these tech giants are rolling out compliance reports every month. 

In the month of September, Meta’s messaging app WhatsApp banned over 2.6 Mn accounts in total. Of this, nearly 1.8 Mn accounts were banned because of user complaints while 8.7 Lakh accounts were banned for violating community guidelines.

Meanwhile, the homegrown social media platform Sharechat banned 4.3 Mn content pieces on the platform. Out of this, it took down 224K content pieces for violating community guidelines and 46K content pieces were pulled down for falling under ‘sexally explicit’ category and ‘comments’ category.

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