Indian government denies Elon Musk firm X's claim on blocking Reuters: ‘No fresh order issued'

Hindustan Times

10 hours ago

The Indian government on Tuesday denied issuing any fresh orders on July 3 to block accounts of any global news agency, including Reuters, on Elon Musk's microblogging site X (formerly Twitter). The Indian Government said it has not issued any fresh blocking order on 3rd July, 2025 to Elon Musk's X.(AFP file)
The government's response comes just hours after X claimed that it was asked to block 2,355 accounts in India, including international news outlets such as Reuters, on July 3, under section 69A of the IT Act.
Refuting the allegations, an official spokesperson of the Indian government said as soon as X accounts of Reuters and Reuters World were withheld in India on Saturday evening, it got in touch with the social media platform to unblock them. This is in contrast to X's claimed that the Indian government made the request only after public outcry.
'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,' said the official spokesperson in a statement.
It also added that while the government engaged with X 'vigorously' since the the night of July 5 (Saturday), the platform 'un-necessarily exploited technicalities' involved around the process and did not unblock the URLs until the evening of July 6, over 21 hours later.
'The Government continuously engaged and vigorously pursued with 'X' from the late night of 5th July 2025. 'X' has un-necessarily exploited technicalities involved around the process and didn't unblock the URLs. However, after 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,' the statement said.
Elon Musk-owned microblogging site X alleged on Tuesday that on July 3, the Indian government ordered it to block 2,355 accounts, including that of Reuters. It added that non-compliance to the order risked criminal liability.
The social media platform also claimed and that India's IT ministry demanded it to adhere to the orders within an hour and did not provide any justification for the move.
'On July 3, 2025, the Indian government ordered X to block 2,355 accounts in India, including international news outlets like @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, under Section 69A of the IT Act. 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,' said a post by X' Global Government Affairs account.
It added that the government requested X to unblock Reuters' accounts after 'public outcry'
Alleging press censorship in India, X said that it is exploring all legal options available. '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," it said.