The X accounts of Reuters and Reuters World have been blocked in India since Saturday evening. The message upon opening the international news agency’s handles said: “@Reuters has been withheld in IN in response to a legal demand.” However, an official spokesperson of 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.”
People aware of the matter within the IT ministry said that it seemed like a technical issue. At the time of Operation Sindoor, a four-day high-stakes military engagement between India and Pakistan, the government had sent over 8,000 orders to X to block access of several Pakistani, non-Pakistani news and other accounts, but even then blocking orders for Reuters was never sent, clarified an IT ministry official.
According to this official, X seems to have now acted on that request and blocked Reuters’ X handle “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.
The blocking of Reuters’ accounts on X also comes several days after YouTube and Instagram accounts of several Pakistani celebrities and news channels were unblocked for a day due to a “technical error.” They were later re-blocked.
This also comes at a time when the Karnataka high court is hearing a case where X is challenging the Indian government’s content blocking mechanism, specifically the use of section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act and the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre’s Sahyog Portal.
{{/usCountry}}This also comes at a time when the Karnataka high court is hearing a case where X is challenging the Indian government’s content blocking mechanism, specifically the use of section 79(3)(b) of the IT Act and the Indian Cybercrime Coordination Centre’s Sahyog Portal.
{{/usCountry}}During a hearing before the Karnataka high court on July 1, counsel for X argued that content takedown powers had been delegated to virtually “every Tom, Dick, and Harry” within the government. The statement, made by senior advocate KG Raghavan, drew a strong objection from the Union government’s counsel. The next hearing in the case is on July 8.
Both Reuters and Reuters World remains accessible to users outside of India. At the time of writing this article, the Reuters website remained accessible in India. Other Reuters-affiliated X accounts like Reuters Tech News, Reuters Fact Check, Reuters Asia, Reuters Science News, Reuters Business remained accessible in India.