Nine years after its initial release, Rockstar has added the third-party anti-cheat software BattlEye to the PC version of GTA V, and it's been a long time coming. The addition of a PC anti-cheat was added as part of a larger title update to celebrate the game's eleven-year anniversary and remind us that the passage of time is inevitable.
BattlEye is a pretty common anti-cheat software found in other multiplayer games like Destiny 2 and Fortnite. The software can ban users on a hardware level if they are caught using mods or cheats extensively, meaning if you get caught cheating in GTA Online, your computer will no longer be able to play the game.
