X says Indian govt ordered Reuters’ blocking on July 3; Here’s what really happened

New Delhi: Social media platform X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday disclosed that the Indian government had ordered the blocking of 2,355 accounts, including the official X handles of international news agency Reuters, on July 3, 2025.

The move was directed under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), which demanded compliance within an hour, citing national security concerns. However, X proceeded with the blocking three days after the order, on July 6.

In a statement, X’s Global Government Affairs handle said, “The government’s directive included the suspension of @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, along with other individual and media accounts."

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. Non-compliance risked criminal liability. The Ministry of Electronics and Information…

— Global Government Affairs (@GlobalAffairs) July 8, 2025

The platform said it had no option but to comply, given the potential for criminal liability under Indian law. The order required that these accounts remain blocked until further notice, and did not provide specific justification.

After the move triggered significant backlash both domestically and internationally, the Indian government asked X to restore access to the Reuters handles. The platform did so, but noted that the larger issue—the blocking of 2,353 other accounts—remains unresolved.

Reuters' X account was withheld in India for a few hours but restored later on Sunday, July 6, after the government intervened to state it had not sought the blocking of the handle.

The government asked the Elon Musk-owned platform for an explanation and clarified that it had not requested such a move. X restored access to the account shortly thereafter.

The notice displayed on X until Sunday evening stated that Reuters' X account had been withheld in India "in response to a legal demand."

However, a government spokesperson said that no legal requirement was made to withhold the account.

Earlier in the day, sources said a demand for blocking the account alongside several hundred other accounts was made during Operation Sindoor in May. While many of them were blocked, the Reuters handle was not.

X seems to have now acted on that request and blocked Reuters' handle in India. And since the issue is no longer relevant, the government has asked X to explain the blocking and lift the embargo, they said.

However, the statement by X on Tuesday contradicted the government’s version.

It may be recalled that the social media accounts of several Pakistani influencers became accessible in India on July 3, leading to public backlash.

It was said that government officials failed to renew the 60-day blocking order, which led to the unblocking of the Pakistani accounts.

It appears that the government hurriedly sent the same order to social media companies and asked them to comply.

X, which did not block Reuters’ account on the April-May order, chose to block it this time around.

Experts connect this action to the hearing in the Karnataka High Court, which was to start the next day, Monday.

The statement by X should be read with a pinch of salt, as the platform blocked Pakistani handles the day after the order but left Reuters’ handle untouched.

“It is clearly an outcome of an afterthought, due to which X blocked Reuters’ account two days later, not on the same day when it was blocking hundreds of other handles following the July 3 order,” a policy expert told NewsDrum.