India asks internet service providers to block WeTransfer

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India has ordered its internet service providers (ISPs) to block file-sharing website WeTransfer at a time when hundreds of millions of people are working from home because of a nationwide lockdown to stop the novel coronavirus.

The order, dated May 18, from India’s Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which was reviewed by Reuters, does not specify a reason for blocking the website, but invokes a clause from conditions laid out for granting licences to ISPs.

The clause directs all licence holders to block websites in the “interest of national security or public interest”.

“At this moment in time, WeTransfer seems to be blocked and unavailable in India,” WeTransfer said in a blog post.

“We are working hard to understand the reasoning behind this block, as well as how to get it reverted as soon as possible.”

The DoT did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Founded in 2009 in the Netherlands, WeTransfer allows users to upload and share file of up to 2GB for free at one time. Paying users can share files of up to 20 GB per transfer.

Reporting by Sankalp Phartiyal; Editing by Robert Birsel

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