Indian providers block VLC website for unknown reason

Indian providers have blocked VLC Media Player’s site since February for unknown reasons. The Indian government does not want to respond to the question why the providers are blocking the Videolan.org site.

Source: Sahaj Sarup

The providers use various techniques for the blocking, writes Techcrunch. This makes it seem that it is not a mistake, but a conscious blockage. Videolan tells the site that it has not received any notification from the Indian government about the blockade.

The Indian Internet Freedom Foundation has submitted a request to the responsible ministry and received a reply that there is no information about the blockage. The organization calls that illegal and has appealed the reaction.

Techcrunch cites as a possible reason for the block a misinterpreted report from security companies that modified versions of VLC have been used to spread malware. As a result of the blockage, Indian users may be using other, less reliable sources to download VLC. Traffic to Videolan’s site fell by 20 percent due to the blockade. About 10 percent of VLC’s global users are Indian.