NEW DELHI: India on Tuesday firmly denied allegations made by Elon Musk-owned social media platform X that it had ordered to block international news channels, including @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, saying that it has "no intentions" to do so.
In a sharp rebuttal, ministry of electronics and information technology further clarified that the moment channels of Reuters and Reuters World on X got blocked, it immediately wrote to the social media platform, urging to unblock them.
"The moment Reuters and Reuters World were blocked on X platform in India, immediately the government wrote to ‘X’ to unblock them," the official statement said.
While Reuters’ handles were briefly blocked in India, the government said it took no such action and had sought clarification from X.
The official said that X took more than 21 hours to restore access to the accounts, despite “hourly” follow-ups from MeitY.
“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,” the ministry said, adding that the platform finally restored access after 9 pm on July 6.
"They took more than 21 hours to unblock Reuters," the official spokesperson of ministry of electronics and information technology said.
The statement came after X on Tuesday posted a public statement alleging that the Indian government had issued a blocking order on 2,355 accounts, including those of @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, under Section 69A of the IT Act.
"On July 3, 2025, the Indian government ordered X to block 2,355 accounts in India, including international news outlets like @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, under Section 69A of the IT Act. 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," X said in a post.
In a sharp rebuttal, ministry of electronics and information technology further clarified that the moment channels of Reuters and Reuters World on X got blocked, it immediately wrote to the social media platform, urging to unblock them.
"The moment Reuters and Reuters World were blocked on X platform in India, immediately the government wrote to ‘X’ to unblock them," the official statement said.
While Reuters’ handles were briefly blocked in India, the government said it took no such action and had sought clarification from X.
The official said that X took more than 21 hours to restore access to the accounts, despite “hourly” follow-ups from MeitY.
“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,” the ministry said, adding that the platform finally restored access after 9 pm on July 6.
"They took more than 21 hours to unblock Reuters," the official spokesperson of ministry of electronics and information technology said.
The statement came after X on Tuesday posted a public statement alleging that the Indian government had issued a blocking order on 2,355 accounts, including those of @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, under Section 69A of the IT Act.
"On July 3, 2025, the Indian government ordered X to block 2,355 accounts in India, including international news outlets like @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, under Section 69A of the IT Act. 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," X said in a post.
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