Govt Rejects X’s ‘Press Censorship’ Charge After Reuters Block: ‘Unnecessarily Exploited Technicalities’

The Indian government denies issuing a blocking order on July 3rd against 2,355 X accounts, including Reuters, and accuses X of delaying their unblocking.

Representational Image | X claims the government demanded immediate blocking without justification and only reversed the decision after public outcry, an assertion denied by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

Source : ABPLIVE AI

The Union government has pushed back against microblogging platform X’s allegation that a fresh blocking order was issued on July 3 against 2,355 accounts, including the handles of global news agency Reuters and Reuters World.

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.

X Flags Concerns Over Press Freedom

In a contrasting version, Elon Musk’s platform claimed in a post through its Global Government Affairs account that the Indian government had directed it to block the accounts without providing any justification. “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,” X said.

The platform also claimed that after public backlash, it received a request from the government to reverse the action: “After public outcry, the Government requested X to unblock @Reuters and @ReutersWorld.”

Highlighting its discontent, X described the move as part of a troubling trend. “We are deeply concerned about ongoing press censorship in India due to these blocking orders. X is exploring all legal options available,” it added.

X further stated that Indian legal frameworks limit its ability to challenge such directives. “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,” the company said.

Notably, MeitY had earlier denied issuing any order regarding the 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 said.

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