Social media platform X, owned by Elon Musk, has publicly stated that it received a directive from the Government of India on July 3, 2025, to block 2,355 accounts in India, including handles belonging to Reuters and ReutersWorld, under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. However, the Indian government has categorically denied issuing any fresh blocking order on that date.
On Tuesday, X’s Global Government Affairs account posted: “Non-compliance risked criminal liability. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology demanded immediate action – within one hour – without providing justification, and required the accounts to remain blocked until further notice.”
The post added that following public backlash, the government asked X to unblock @Reuters and @ReutersWorld.
Government Denies Fresh Blocking Order
Responding to X’s statement, an official spokesperson from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), quoted by The Indian Express, said: “The government has not issued any fresh blocking order on 3rd July, 2025 and has no intention to block any prominent international news channels including Reuters and ReutersWorld. The moment Reuters and ReutersWorld were blocked on X platform in India, immediately the government wrote to X to unblock them.”
The spokesperson added: “The government continuously engaged and vigorously pursued with X from the late night of 5th July 2025. X has unnecessarily exploited technicalities involved around the process and didn’t unblock the URLs. However, after a lot of follow-up on hourly basis, X has finally unblocked Reuters and other URLs after 9 pm on 6th July 2025. They took more than 21 hours to unblock Reuters.”
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X Disputes Prior Statement by Government
X’s statement also contradicted an earlier official government statement issued on Sunday, which said: “There is no requirement from the Government of India to withhold Reuters handle. We are continuously working with X to resolve the problem.”
X added in its July 9 post: “We are deeply concerned about ongoing press censorship in India due to these blocking orders. X is exploring all legal options available. Unlike users located in India, X is restricted by Indian law in its ability to bring legal challenges against these executive orders. We urge affected users to pursue legal remedies through the courts.”
On Saturday night, users trying to access Reuters and ReutersWorld on X in India saw a message stating that the accounts had been withheld in response to a legal demand.
Background: Operation Sindoor and Past Blocking Orders
Officials from the IT Ministry have previously stated that the government had issued blocking orders to X regarding certain posts by Reuters during Operation Sindoor in early May. At the time, X reportedly did not act on these posts.
During Operation Sindoor, the government instructed social media platforms to block content and accounts it believed were spreading deliberate misinformation or undermining Armed Forces’ operations. These included accounts linked to Pakistan and China, and also the X accounts of BBC Urdu and Outlook India, which were later unblocked.
On May 9, X had confirmed receiving executive orders from the Indian government to block over 8,000 accounts, including those of international news organisations and prominent X users. The platform noted that failure to comply could lead to significant fines and imprisonment of local employees.
According to previous reports by The Indian Express, a small team within MeitY, initially established to combat election-related misinformation during the Lok Sabha polls, was asked to step up real-time monitoring of content related to Operation Sindoor, with round-the-clock staffing across shifts.
