Elon Musk-owned social media platform X has refuted the federal government’s declare over the blocking of Reuters’ accounts, saying it obtained blocking orders for greater than 2,000 accounts in India, together with these linked to the information company on July 3.
This immediately contradicts a press release issued by the official spokesperson of the IT Ministry on Sunday, which mentioned: “There is no such thing as a requirement from the Authorities of India to withhold Reuters deal with. We’re repeatedly working with X to resolve the issue.”
On Saturday evening, X blocked the handles of Reuters and Reuters World, with a message displayed on their accounts stating they’d been withheld in India “in response to a authorized demand”.
In a publish by way of its World Authorities Affairs Deal with on Tuesday, X mentioned that on July 3, the Indian authorities ordered X to dam 2,355 accounts in India, together with worldwide information retailers like Reuters below Part 69A of the Data Know-how Act.
“Non-compliance risked prison legal responsibility. The Ministry of Electronics and Data Know-how demanded quick motion – inside one hour – with out offering justification, and required the accounts to stay blocked till additional discover,” X mentioned. “After public outcry, the federal government requested X to unblock @Reuters and @ReutersWorld.”
On July 3, 2025, the Indian authorities ordered X to dam 2,355 accounts in India, together with worldwide information retailers like @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, below Part 69A of the IT Act. Non-compliance risked prison legal responsibility. The Ministry of Electronics and Data…
— World Authorities Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) July 8, 2025
It added: “We’re deeply involved about ongoing press censorship in India as a result of these blocking orders. X is exploring all authorized choices obtainable. In contrast to customers positioned in India, X is restricted by Indian regulation in its capability to carry authorized challenges towards these govt orders. We urge affected customers to pursue authorized cures by means of the courts.”
The Ministry of Electronics and Data Know-how (MeitY) didn’t reply to an instantaneous request for remark.
Officers within the ministry had earlier mentioned that the federal government had despatched blocking orders to X associated to some posts made by the information company throughout Operation Sindoor in early Could, however the platform, on the time, had not taken any motion on the posts.
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Throughout Operation Sindoor, the Indian authorities had directed social media platforms like X to dam a number of items of content material and accounts that it felt had been spreading deliberate misinformation and posting info that might subvert and undermine the Armed Forces’ ongoing operations on the time. Whereas it had blocked a variety of accounts it believed had been linked to Pakistan and China, it had additionally directed blocking the X accounts of reports platforms BBC Urdu and Outlook India, which had been later revoked.
In a press release on Could 9, X had mentioned that it obtained govt orders from the Indian authorities asking for over 8,000 accounts to be blocked, together with these belonging to “worldwide information organisations and outstanding X customers”. The social media platform mentioned that falling foul of the chief orders may topic it to potential penalties, together with important fines and imprisonment of its native staff.
The Indian Specific had reported that following a flurry of what it known as “misinformation” on social media platforms associated to Operation Sindoor, a small crew on the IT Ministry — which was arrange final 12 months through the Lok Sabha polls to flag and take down election-related misinformation on social media platforms — obtained reinforcement of personnel and was requested to step up monitoring and flag deceptive content material associated to the battle to be taken down. The monitoring occurred round the clock, with folks working throughout shifts.