MeitY lifts ban on VideoLAN website, bringing VLC Media Player back to India

• Image Credit: Crast.Net

• Nov 16, 2022 | Poonam Nath

MeitY stopped the VideoLAN website because it was in contact with the servers of the previously outlawed Onmyoji Arena programme...

Digital Desk: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has lifted the ban on the VideoLAN website, which allows users to download the famous media-streaming player VLC Media Player. This comes about nine months after MeitY announced that the website would be blocked.

"We have some exciting news! VLC Media Player has returned! "VideoLAN made an announcement on Twitter.

According to the sources, the ministry informed VideoLAN on Monday that it has decided to lift the ban.

MeitY informed VideoLAN of the ban in a letter dated in October. The primary reason for blocking the website, it stated, was that VideoLAN was interfacing with servers of a previously prohibited software, Onmyoji Arena. In India, Onmyoji was prohibited for allegedly transmitting user data to a "hostile country."

It went on to say that the ministry bases its results on "open source threat intelligence information." According to the ministry, a China-backed hacker gang known as 'Cicada' exploited VLC Media Player to carry out cyber operations.

Reportedly, VideoLAN filed a lengthy response to MeitY in response to the letter. The website was helped in this by the digital rights organisation Internet Freedom Foundation. The response clarified the issues raised by MeitY's concerns.

VideoLAN also refuted allegations of data transfer to a "hostile country." It went on to say that the ministry supplied no details concerning the suspicions of Chinese hackers using the software.

Following the lifting of the ban, VideoLAN stated that VLC Media Player had approximately 80 million Indian users and that "by blocking the principal avenue for authentic downloads and updates, the restriction left us all substantially less secure on the internet than we were before."

On Tuesday, the VideoLAN website was accessible in India, and as per tech news agency Gadgets 360 confirmed that the VideoLAN website was accessible via different internet service providers. Meanwhile, MeitY and the Department of Telecommunications have yet to issue a public announcement regarding the website's unblocking in India.