Why has government banned VLC Media Player in India?

The developer of VLC Media Player, VideoLAN, said that the media player was banned in India earlier this year.

To be specific, VLC Media Player was banned in the country on February 13. 

The VLC website and the download link have been down since then. However, users who have the software installed are still available to access it.

The company says it has no clue why the government banned the platform. Here are 5 things we know about the VLC ban in India so far.

VLC Media Player banned in India

- VideoLAN has officially confirmed the ban that almost no one noticed.

The official reason behind the ban hasn't been revealed yet but some reports suggest that VLC Media Player has been banned because the platform was used by China-backed hacking group Cicada for cyber attacks.

- The blocked VLC Media Play website shows "the website has been blocked as per order of the Ministry of Electronics and Information technology under IT Act, 2000" message. 

The act deals with the primary law in India dealing with cybercrime and electronic commerce.

- Currently, VLC Media Play website and download link are blocked. In other words, users who already have the VLC player installed should still be able to use it to watch their media files. 

New users will not be able to get VLC. Meanwhile, the developer said that VLC doesn't collect user information at any given point.

- The Indian government hasn't yet confirmed why VLC Media Player has been banned in the country. The media player, on the other hand, is seeking help on Twitter since it has no clue about the reason behind the sudden ban.