Our Bureau
New Delhi
The main X (formerly Twitter) account of international news agency Reuters was withheld in India on Saturday, with users encountering a message stating the action was taken “in response to a legal demand.” The move, which also affects the Reuters World handle, has rendered both accounts inaccessible to Indian users, while other affiliated Reuters X handles such as Reuters Tech News, Reuters Fact Check, and Reuters Asia remain available.
The Indian government has denied any recent involvement in the blocking of Reuters’ account. An official spokesperson from the Ministry of Information Technology clarified, “There is no requirement from the Government of India to withhold Reuters, and we are continuously working with X to resolve the problem”. The spokesperson emphasized that the Centre did not issue a new legal demand for the action, and described the incident as likely stemming from a technical or procedural error.
According to government sources, the origin of the block appears to be linked to Operation Sindoor, a high-stakes military operation in May, during which the government had ordered the blocking of hundreds of social media accounts, including some international news handles. While the order was issued on May 7, Reuters’ handle was not blocked at the time, though several others were. Officials now believe that X may have belatedly acted on the old request, resulting in the current restriction.
The government has since contacted X, seeking both an explanation and the immediate lifting of the embargo. “X seems to have enforced that order now, which is a mistake on their part. Government has reached out to X for resolving it at the earliest,” an official source stated.
The incident comes amid ongoing legal scrutiny of India’s social media content blocking mechanisms, with X currently challenging aspects of the government’s takedown powers in the Karnataka High Court. Both Reuters and X have yet to issue public statements regarding the situation. Access to Reuters’ website and other social media channels remains unaffected for Indian users.
