In India, downloading VLC may require a VPN. No official justification has been given why Indians can’t download VLC Media Player.
VideoLAN’s official site has been prohibited in India since February 13.
The news was uncovered after traffic dropped 80% in South Asia, the company’s president and chief developer told TechCrunch.
Banning VLC
“Some ISPs ban it, while others don’t. How come? ISPs ignoring government?” Hacker News’ Kempf .
Users who have previously downloaded the media player can use it without complications because it doesn’t need to be connected to their servers. VLC is still available on Apple Store, Google Play, and mirrored sites, but users may need an India VPN to access its official site.
VideoLAN is seeking help on social media to find a solution.
Why is VLC banned?
The Indian government hasn’t given an official justification for its decision.
The India Ministry of Electronics and IT said “No information is available” on July 14.
Some reports speculate that the restriction may be due to the Chinese government-backed hacker organisation Cicada employing a phoney version of VLC Media Player to launch malware assaults.
“VideoLAN is apolitical (we simply oppose DRM and support open source), and VLC can read everything,” added Kempf.
If that’s the real reason for the prohibition, it will do more harm than good by driving people to download their service from less secure locations.
10% of VLC users are from India, according to VideoLAN.
More internet users are calling on India’s Ministry of Electronics and IT to lift the ban.