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Recently, one of the most popular media players called VLC Media Player was banned in India. Or has it? However, the app is still available for download on Google Play Store and App Store for everyone. Also, if you have the player installed on your gadget, you can play it without any problem, but the website www.videolan.org is down. VLC Media Player is reportedly not working on some computers. Notably, there is no official word regarding the banning of VLC Media Player from government sources.

According to a report by Gadgets Now, the blocking of the app is not new as VLC’s parent organization VideoLan claims that the platform was banned 6 months ago in the month of February 2022. The report, in moreover, it reported that VideoLan even approached the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to find out the reasons for the ban, but they did not receive any response. However, there are still several reasons that indicate that VLC Media Player may not be banned in India. Check out the reasons here:

Read also: Banned apps in India: BGMI in VLC Media Player, know the BIGGEST names that got blocked

1. The app is still available for download on Google Play Store and App Store

Banned apps are generally being removed from Google Play Store and Apple App Store so that they cannot be downloaded by the masses. This is what happened to PUBG Mobile, Garena Free Fire and so many other websites linked to China. But, this is not the case with VLC Media Player. It may be noted that the other apps that have been banned in India including BGMI have been removed from these stores.

Read also: Popular VLC Media Player Banned in India: Report

2. No official statement from Government of India

Government of India has not yet released any official statement regarding the banning of VLC Media Player in India. Previously, whenever decisions were made to ban apps, an official government statement citing the reason for the ban was made public. However, nothing as such has happened in this case yet. According to a report by Gadgets Now, the Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) had filed a Right to Information request with DoT to get more information about the ban on the website, to which the GoI MeitY responded with “No information is available.” [with MeitY]”. In addition, ministry officials have denied “anything to do” with the ban.

3. VLC website appearing in Google search

Typing VLC into Google search will give you the suggestion of the media player’s official website. Also, when the suggestion was clicked, the VLC Media Player website was opened with the URL https://www.videolan.org/ on a Windows laptop. It even showed VLC download option.