On Monday, the government of India lifted ban on the usage of VLC Media Player website. Internet Freedom Foundation of India announced the news on the microblogging site Twitter and stated that it has helped the company in offering legal assistance for this issue. The IFF tweeted, “VICTORY @GoI_MeitY has decided to remove its ban on the website of VLC Media Player. IFF provided legal support to @videolan throughout this process.”
The website was blocked earlier this year. Though there was no official statement announcing the ban, the Ministry of Electronics and IT blocked the website as it was being used by China-backed hacking group ‘Cicada’ for cyber attacks in India. It is to be noted that only the website was shut down throughout this period and mobile app were progressed.
However, a legal notice was sent by the company to the MeitY seeking to know the reasons behind the blocking and that it should be given an opportunity to defend its case through a virtual hearing. VLC is a media player with over 3.5 million downloads, that needs no internet or connectivity to any particular service to operate.