Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, July 8: The Central government on Tuesday refuted microblogging platform X’s claim that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) issued a fresh blocking order on July 3 against 2,355 accounts including international news agency Reuters and Reuters World.
The government told X to unblock the news agency’s handles in India immediately the moment they were blocked, a MeitY spokesperson said. The social media giant owned by Elon Musk, however, “unnecessarily exploited technicalities involved around the process and didn’t unblock the URLs,” the spokesperson 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 Reuters World. The moment Reuters and Reuters World were blocked on X platform in India, immediately the government wrote to ‘X’ to unblock them,” the spokesperson said.
“The government continuously engaged and vigorously pursued ‘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,” the spokesperson added.
However, soon afterwards, the X refuted the government over its blocking accounts of Reuters, saying it received blocking orders for more than 2,000 accounts in India, including those linked to the news agency on July 3. However, the government, in an official statement, doubled down on its earlier stance that it has not sent any such order on the specified date.
In a post via its Global Government Affairs handle on Tuesday, X said that on July 3, the Indian government ordered X to block 2,355 accounts in India, including international news outlets like Reuters under Section 69A of the Information Technology 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,” X said. “After public outcry, the government requested X to unblock @Reuters and @ReutersWorld.”
Responding to the social network’s allegations, an official spokesperson of the IT Ministry 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 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.”
X’s statement directly contradicted an official government statement issued on Sunday, where it 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 also expressed concern about what it called “ongoing press censorship in India” and said it was exploring legal options. However, the platform noted it was limited by Indian law in its ability to challenge such executive orders directly. The X statement said “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, X blocked the handles of Reuters and Reuters World, with a message displayed on their accounts stating they had been withheld in India “in response to a legal demand.”
Officials in the ministry had earlier said the government had sent blocking orders to X related to some posts made by the news agency during Operation Sindoor in early May, but the platform, at the time, had not taken any action on the posts. During Operation Sindoor, the Indian government had directed social media platforms like X to block several pieces of content and accounts that it felt were spreading deliberate misinformation and posting information that could subvert and undermine the Armed Forces’ ongoing operations at the time. While it had blocked a range of accounts it believed were linked to Pakistan and China, it had also directed blocking the X accounts of news platforms BBC Urdu and Outlook India, which was later revoked.
Earlier, in a statement on May 9, X had said it received executive orders from the Indian government asking for over 8,000 accounts to be blocked, including those belonging to “international news organisations and prominent X users.” The social media platform said that falling foul of the executive orders could subject it to potential penalties, including significant fines and imprisonment of its local employees. The ministry, however, maintained that it had no intention of restricting access to any major international news outlet, including Reuters. It added that as soon as it became aware of the issue, it promptly contacted X to request that the URLs be unblocked.
“The moment Reuters and ReutersWorld were blocked on X platform in India, immediately the government wrote to ‘X’ to unblock them. The Government continuously engaged and vigorously pursued with ‘X’ from the late night of 5th July 2025,” the ministry’s statement read. “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,” it added.
This clarification came after X claimed that it had received a legal directive from the Indian government to block 2,355 accounts “under Section 69A of the IT Act.” In a statement posted via its Global Government Affairs handle, X said: “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. After public outcry, the government requested X to unblock @Reuters and @ReutersWorld.” “We urge affected users to pursue legal remedies through the courts,” X stated.
These claims contradicted an earlier statement from MeitY, which had said there was no requirement from the Centre to withhold Reuters’ handle and that it was continuously working with X to resolve the issue.
The controversy began on Saturday night when Indian users found that Reuters and ReutersWorld accounts were blocked, with a message saying the handles were “withheld in India in response to a legal demand.” However, a day later their accounts were restored. A day after the X account of UK-based news agency was withheld in India, sources said the blockade of the X account in India “seems like a technical issue or confusion from the X side.”