Elon Musk's X Flags 'Press Censorship' In India As Reuters Account Briefly Blocked Amid Govt Order

In a post shared via its Global Government Affairs handle, X revealed that the blocking directive came with urgency and no official explanation.

X confirmed that after strong public backlash, the Government instructed it to restore access to the Reuters accounts.

Elon Musk’s social media platform X has accused the Indian Government of ordering a sweeping block on 2,355 accounts, including those of global news agency Reuters, on July 3. This disclosure directly contradicts the Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology’s (MeitY) earlier claim that it had not sought action against Reuters.

In a post shared via its Global Government Affairs handle, X revealed that the blocking directive came with urgency and no official explanation. “The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) demanded immediate action—within one hour—without providing justification, and required the accounts to remain blocked until further notice,” the platform stated.

The company also confirmed that after strong public backlash, the Government instructed it to restore access to the Reuters accounts: “After public outcry, the Government requested X to unblock @Reuters and @ReutersWorld.”

X Raises Alarm Over Press Freedom

X did not mince words in its criticism of the move, expressing alarm at what it described as a pattern of censorship in the country. “We are deeply concerned about ongoing press censorship in India due to these blocking orders. X is exploring all legal options available,” the platform said.

The company noted that its ability to legally challenge such executive orders is limited under Indian law. “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 added.

Government Denies Action On Reuters

The Union government has pushed back against microblogging platform X’s allegatiom. Denying the charge, an official spokesperson for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) stated, “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.”

According to news agency ANI, the ministry further asserted that it had engaged with X “from the late night of 5th July 2025” and blamed the platform for the delay in lifting the block. “X has unnecessarily 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 spokesperson said.

Interestingly, just days earlier, MeitY had issued a statement denying any directive to block Reuters accounts. “There is no requirement from the Government of India to withhold Reuters handle. We are continuously working with X to resolve the problem,” the ministry had said.

The conflicting accounts between X and the Centre highlight ongoing tensions around digital censorship and transparency in the enforcement of online content restrictions. While the Reuters handles were eventually restored, the episode raises broader concerns about the mechanisms and accountability behind such takedown orders.

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