A dispute has erupted between the Indian government and social media platform X (formerly Twitter) following the temporary blocking of Reuters News accounts in India. X claims the government ordered the blocking of over 2,000 accounts, including those of Reuters, while the government denies issuing any fresh blocking orders specifically targeting Reuters.
On July 8, 2025, X's global government affairs team stated that on July 3, 2025, the Indian government directed the platform to block 2,355 accounts within India, including international news outlets like Reuters and Reuters World, citing Section 69A of the IT Act. X asserted that non-compliance with this order risked criminal liability and that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) demanded immediate action, within one hour, without providing justification, and required the accounts to remain blocked until further notice. X further stated that after a public outcry, the government requested the unblocking of the two Reuters handles. The platform expressed deep concern about ongoing press censorship in India due to these blocking orders and is exploring all legal options available.
In response, an official spokesperson for MeitY refuted X's claims, stating that the government had not issued any fresh blocking order on July 3, 2025, and has no intention of blocking any prominent international news channels, including Reuters and Reuters World. The government stated that it immediately wrote to X to unblock the Reuters accounts as soon as they were blocked on the platform. The government added that it continuously engaged with X from the late night of July 5, 2025. The IT ministry accused X of unnecessarily exploiting technicalities involved around the process and not unblocking the URLs promptly. However, after a lot of follow-up on an hourly basis, X finally unblocked Reuters and other URLs after 9 pm on July 6, 2025, taking more than 21 hours to unblock Reuters.
The Reuters accounts, @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, were suspended for users in India late on Saturday and displayed a message stating they had been withheld in India in response to a legal demand. The accounts were restored on Sunday night.
X has been at odds with the Indian government over content removal requests. In March, the company sued the government over a new government website that X says expands takedown powers to countless government officials. This case is ongoing. X claims that it is restricted by Indian law in its ability to bring legal challenges against these executive orders and urges affected users to pursue legal remedies through the courts.
