Thai government may ban Pokémon Go

Thailand’s National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission (NBTC) will send a request Thursday to Niantic, the developer of Pokémon Go, asking the company to remove sensitive areas from the mobile game and threatening to ban the game if the request is not fulfilled, local media reported on Wednesday.

"If Niantic turns down the request, NBTC will ask the Information and Communication Technology Ministry…to ban Pokémon Go in the country," NBTC chief Takorn Tantasith said, as quoted by the Bangkok Post.

The NBTC seeks to make government buildings and temples, private property, as well as dangerous zones like highways, railroads and waterways off limits to "pocket monster" hunters.

On Tuesday, the NBTC secretary-general also said he had approved using special Sim cards to track foreign tourists in Thailand. He said this was not a violation of privacy.

According to the Bangkok outlet, Sim cards will have tracking enabled at all times, but officials will ask phone operators to locate tourists only if they overstay or commit offenses.