X blasts India 'censorship' order on thousands of accounts
NEW DELHI: Social media platform X said Tuesday it was "deeply concerned" after the Indian government ordered it last week to block more than 2,000 accounts, including two belonging to the Reuters news agency.
Many of the blocked accounts were restored within hours, and New Delhi denied any role in the takedown.
India, the world's biggest democracy, regularly ranks among the top five countries for the number of requests made by a government to remove social media content.
"On July 3, 2025, the Indian government ordered X to block 2,355 accounts in India, including international news outlets like @Reuters and @ReutersWorld," X's Global Government Affairs team said in a statement shared on the platform.
The statement added that India's Ministry of Electronics had "demanded immediate action – within one hour – without providing justification, and required the accounts to remain blocked" until further notice.
An Indian ministry spokesperson denied such an order was issued, saying there was "no intention to block any prominent international news channel".
"The moment Reuters and Reuters World were blocked on X platform in India, immediately the government wrote to 'X' to unblock them," the spokesperson told news agency ANI.
The accounts were taken offline late on Saturday, but had resumed operating by Sunday.
"Non-compliance risked criminal liability," said X, the platform formerly known as Twitter and owned by the world's richest person Elon Musk.
"After public outcry, the government requested X to unblock @Reuters and @ReutersWorld," it added.
"We are deeply concerned about ongoing press censorship in India due to these blocking orders."
Rights groups say freedom of expression and press freedom have been under threat in India since Prime Minister Narendra Modi took office in 2014.
New Delhi regularly imposes blanket Internet shutdowns during periods of unrest.
In April, India launched a sweeping crackdown on social media, banning more than a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly spreading "provocative" content following an attack in Kashmir.
Many of those have been restored.
New Delhi has also imposed intermittent Internet outages in the northeastern state of Manipur since 2023 in the wake of ethnic violence.
New Delhi has justified Internet and social media bans as ways to curb disinformation in a country where hundreds of millions of people have access to some of the cheapest mobile Internet rates in the world.
X said it was "exploring all legal options available" but added that it was "restricted by Indian law in its ability to bring legal challenges".
"We urge affected users to pursue legal remedies through the courts," it added. – AFP
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