X Restricts Reuters’ Accounts In India Citing Legal Demand; Government Denies Involvement: Report

Access to the X (formerly Twitter) accounts of Reuters and Reuters World has been restricted in India since Saturday (5 July) evening.

Users attempting to visit the accounts are shown the message: "@Reuters has been withheld in IN in response to a legal demand.", reported Hindustan Times.

However, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has denied issuing any directive to block the accounts.

A spokesperson for the IT Ministry clarified that there is no requirement from the government to withhold Reuters’ handle, and that they are “continuously working with X to resolve the problem", according to the HT report.

According to the people aware of the matter within the IT ministry, cited in the HT report, it seemed like a technical issue.

During Operation Sindoor—a four-day military engagement between India and Pakistan—the government issued over 8,000 blocking orders to X, targeting many Pakistani and non-Pakistani news accounts.

But an IT ministry official reportedly clarified that blocking orders for Reuters was never sent.

According to the official, X unexpectedly acted on that older request “out of blue” last night.

The government has also sent a written response to X asking the company to explain the blocking and lift the embargo.

This incident follows a recent glitch in which YouTube and Instagram accounts of several Pakistani celebrities and news channels were unblocked for a day due to a “technical error” before being re-blocked.

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