The VLC Media player website is banned in India and the ban appears to have been in place since March this year. But what is the reason the website was banned?
VLC Media Player is one of the most popular apps when it comes to video streaming. Anyone who has used a PC in the 90s or early 2000s knows just how popular, the VLC media player was when it came to watching movies, and TV shows. However, it looks like the VLC Media player website is banned in India and the ban appears to have been in place since March this year, according to an earlier report by Medianama.
But what is the reason the website was banned? Well, an RTI (Right to Information) request filed by the Internet Freedom Foundation shows that no one knows what is the reason for the ban. The Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) tweeted that they filed the RTI in June with the department of telecom about the website being banned. DOT transferred the request to Meity or the Ministry of Electronics and Information and Technology. Meity’s response on July 14 was that “No information is available [with MeitY]”.
Check out IFF’s thread below
IFF added in their tweet that they “have filed the first appeal on this response, arguing that it is illegal and demonstrates non-application of mind.”
Indianexpress has reached out to IFF for further statements around the VLC media player ban. All we know right now is that the website cannot be accessed. You can still download the app from the App Store or Google Play Store. And if you have the player installed on your laptop, it should work fine.
VLC Media player’s official Twitter account has also tweeted about the ban, asking for help and appears to be just as clueless about the reason for this ban. Hopefully, there will be some clarity on why the website is not accessible in India.
Source:indianexpress.com