Why VLC Player Is Banned In India? What Should You Do?

If you watch a lot of offline stuff, then you might be familiar with the open source multi-platform video playing app VLC. The VLC media player is available for almost all the major OS platforms such as Android, iOS, macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Govt of India has now banned VLC media players in India. As a part of this, the official VLC website has been banned and the download links have been removed. However, at the time of publishing this story, the VLC player was available for download and Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

However, the official website http://www.videolan.org/ is currently banned in the country. When you try to access the website, it says "The website has been blocked as per the order of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under IT Act, 2000".

Another interesting thing about the VLC player ban is the fact that the official website has been banned by the major ISPs such as Airtel, Vi, Jio, and Act for over two months. Hence, most of the users won't be able to download the VLC media player on their PC, or to do the same they have to use VPN.

#blocked
Videolan project’s website “https://t.co/rPDNPH4QeB” cannot be accessed due to an order issued by @GoI_MeitY. It is inaccessible for all the major ISPs in India including #ACT, #Airtel and V!. #WebsiteBlocking pic.twitter.com/LBKgycuTUo

— sflc.in (@SFLCin) June 2, 2022

Reason Behind VLC Player Ban?

As per the sources, the VLC player has been banned as the player has been said to be used by the China-backed hacking group Cicada for cyber attacks. It is said that the VLC media player was used to inject malware into devices that could be used to steal user data.

What Should You Do?

If you have installed VLC on any of your PC or laptop, then it is recommended to uninstall the same to be on the safer side. Again, the app is still available on Apple App Store and Google Play Store, hence, it looks like only the PC version of the VLC player has been affected by Cicada's malware.