Working from home during these COVID-19 times can be challenging. Despite several ways companies have tried to make it easier for employees to work remotely, the comfort of working from the office using the ideal infrastructure set in place for the smooth functioning of work remains unmatched. In a small way, WeTransfer served as a beneficial tool for people working from home to transfer files with ease. WeTransfer has been around for longer than these lockdown times, but it has gained traction recently based on its use-case.
In a surprising move, WeTransfer users found their go-to service for sharing files remotely stopped working in India. Reason? No one knew, not even the Netherlands-based developers behind the app. But what it had been clear that the Indian government, or the Department of Telecommunications to be precise, had banned the WeTransfer website citing reasons of public interest and national security, Mumbai Mirror reported.
WeTransfer banned in India
"WeTransfer seems to be blocked and unavailable in India. We are working hard to understand the reasoning behind this block, as well as how to get it reverted as soon as possible. We know that a lot of you rely on us to send and receive transfers that are important to you, nowadays more than ever, so it really does break our hearts to see that so many of you can't use WeTransfer at the moment," WeTransfer said, responding to DoT's move.
According to the Mumbai Mirror report, the move was not a result of a PIL or a complaint, which is usually the case, but an independent decision by the ministry. The order issued to the Indian ISPs requires them to ban two specific URLs, the content of which remains unknown, as well as ban the entire WeTransfer.com website. The move is not only widely criticized, but also affects millions of users across India.
What are the alternatives?
If you feel lost without WeTransfer, fret not. There are other ways you can share files back and forth. But if you are insistent on using WeTransfer in India, you can still do so with the help of a virtual private network (VPN). There are several free VPNs available to download and all you need to do is run the VPN on your device and change your virtual location to any place but India to continue using WeTransfer.
Other viable alternatives for transferring files remotely include Google Drive and DropBox. But if you're looking for an app for your smartphone, there are many options like FileMail to fill the void left by WeTransfer.
