X alleges the Indian government ordered it to ban Reuters News accounts.

NEW DELHI (Reuters) – The Indian government ordered X to remove nearly 2,000 accounts last week, including two belonging to Reuters News, the social networking platform claimed on Tuesday, in a scathing public attack on “ongoing press censorship” in India.

Two Reuters News accounts, @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, were blocked for Indian users late on Saturday, with a message stating that they had been “withheld in IN (India) in response to a legal demand”.

The Reuters accounts were restored on Sunday night, but the fate of the others was unknown.

X’s assertion contradicts comments made by a representative for India’s Press Information Bureau over the weekend, who stated that no government entity had requested the withholding of Reuters handles.

“On July 3, 2025, the Indian government ordered X to block 2,355 accounts in India, including foreign news sites like as @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, citing Section 69A of the Information Technology Act. Noncompliance might result in criminal charges,” X stated in its statement.

“We are deeply concerned about the ongoing press censorship in India as a result of these blocking orders.” “X is looking into all legal options,” it added.

Reuters was unable to ascertain which specific content was the subject of the blocking demand or why it was removed.

Section 69A of India’s IT law empowers the government to restrict public access to content “in the interest of the sovereignty and integrity of India, defense of India, and security of the state.” Orders made under this provision are secret in nature.

In a statement, India’s IT ministry said the government had “not issued any fresh blocking order” on July 3. It did not say if an order was issued before that date.

The government did not intend to block any prominent international news channel, including Reuters, and had written to X over the weekend to unblock the news agency’s accounts, the ministry said.

“X has unnecessarily exploited technicalities involved around the process and didn’t unblock the URLs,” it added.

Some estimate 50 metric tonnes of trash remain on the Mt Everest due to decades of climbing and lax regulations.

The social media platform, in its statement, said the Indian government had asked it to restore access to @Reuters and @ReutersWorld after a “public outcry.”

A Reuters representative said over the weekend that the news agency was working with X to have its accounts reactivated in India as quickly as possible. On Tuesday, she stated that the agency had no more comment.

The main Reuters account has around 25 million followers worldwide, while Reuters World has 718,000.

X has long been at conflict with the Indian government over content removal orders. In March, the business sued the federal government over a new government website, claiming that it expanded takedown powers to “countless” authorities.

The lawsuit is ongoing.

India claims that X mislabeled an official website as a “censorship portal,” despite the fact that the website simply allows IT firms to be alerted of dangerous internet material.