‘Deeply concerned’ over India press censorship, says X as accounts blocked

Social media level says the Indian authorities ordered it past week to artifact 2,355 accounts, including 2 Reuters handles.

X says it is “deeply acrophobic astir ongoing property censorship successful India” aft New Delhi ordered the societal media level to artifact much than 2,300 accounts, including 2 Reuters quality bureau handles.

X restored the Reuters News relationship successful India connected Sunday, a time aft it said it was asked by the Indian authorities to suspend it, citing a ineligible demand.

Many different blocked accounts were besides restored, with New Delhi denying its relation successful the takedown.

In a station connected Tuesday, X, promoted by billionaire Elon Musk, said the Indian authorities connected July 3 ordered it to artifact 2,355 accounts successful India nether Section 69A of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

“Non-compliance risked transgression liability. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology demanded contiguous enactment – wrong 1 hr – without providing justification, and required the accounts to stay blocked until further notice,” X said.

“After nationalist outcry, the authorities requested X to unblock @Reuters and @ReutersWorld.”

On July 3, 2025, the Indian authorities ordered X to artifact 2,355 accounts successful India, including planetary quality outlets similar @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, nether Section 69A of the IT Act. Non-compliance risked transgression liability. The Ministry of Electronics and Information…

— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) July 8, 2025

A spokesperson for India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said the authorities did not contented “any caller blocking order” connected July 3 and had “no volition to artifact immoderate salient planetary quality channels”, including Reuters and Reuters World, according to a station connected X by ANI quality agency, Reuters’ spouse successful India.

“The infinitesimal Reuters and Reuters World were blocked connected X level successful India, instantly the authorities wrote to X to unblock them,” the station said. “The authorities continuously engaged and vigorously pursued with X from the precocious nighttime of July 5, 2025.”

The spokesperson said X had “unnecessarily exploited technicalities progressive astir the process and didn’t unblock” the accounts.

India’s IT law, passed successful 2000, allows designated authorities officials to request the takedown of content from societal media platforms they deem to interruption section laws, including connected the grounds of nationalist information oregon if a station threatens nationalist order.

X, formerly known arsenic Twitter, has agelong been astatine likelihood with India’s authorities implicit content-removal requests. In March, the institution sued the national authorities implicit a caller authorities website the institution says expands takedown powers to “countless” authorities officials. The lawsuit is continuing.

India, the world’s biggest democracy, regularly ranks among the apical 5 countries for the fig of requests made by a authorities to region societal media content.

Rights groups accidental state of look and escaped property is nether menace successful India since Hindu nationalist Prime Minister Narendra Modi took bureau successful 2014.

New Delhi has regularly imposed broad net shutdowns during periods of unrest.

In April, the authorities launched a sweeping crackdown connected societal media, banning much than a twelve Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly spreading “provocative” contented pursuing an onslaught successful Indian-administered Kashmir. Many of those person been restored.

New Delhi has besides imposed intermittent net outages successful the northeastern authorities of Manipur since 2023 successful the aftermath of ethnic violence.

The authorities has justified net and societal media bans arsenic ways to curb disinformation successful a state wherever hundreds of millions person entree to immoderate of the cheapest mobile net rates successful the world.

In its station connected Tuesday, X said it was exploring each ineligible options disposable implicit censorship, but added that it was “restricted by Indian instrumentality successful its quality to bring ineligible challenges”.

“We impulse affected users to prosecute ineligible remedies done the courts,” it said.

Source:

Al Jazeera and quality agencies