The Indian government on Tuesday categorically denied issuing a new blocking order on July 3, 2025, against 2,355 social media platform X accounts, including international wire service Reuters and Reuters World. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said it had no plans to block legitimate global news websites and blamed X for the confusion.
“The government has not released any new blocking order on 3rd July, 2025, and is never in the mood to block any major global news networks like Reuters and Reuters World. The very instant Reuters and Reuters World got blocked on the X platform in India, the government wrote to ‘X’ immediately to get them unbanned,” a MeitY official said to ANI.
X Alleges Government-Ordered Censorship
Earlier, X—formerly Twitter and owned by Elon Musk—claimed the Indian government ordered it to block over 2,300 accounts under Section 69A of the IT Act. The directive reportedly came without explanation and demanded execution within an hour.
“On July 3, 2025, the Indian government ordered X to block 2,355 accounts in India, including international news outlets like Reuters and Reuters World, under Section 69A of the IT Act. Non-compliance risked criminal liability,” X’s Global Government Affairs team stated.
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
X was deeply troubled by what it termed “press censorship” and called on impacted users to pursue legal remedies.
Centre Accuses X of Misrepresenting Facts
The government retorted, alleging that X had taken advantage of delays in procedure rather than acting in compliance. MeitY asserted that it pursued X aggressively, but the platform took more than 21 hours to unblock Reuters’ accounts in India.
“The government continuously engaged and vigorously pursued ‘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 spokesperson stated.
“After a 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.”
Official Spokesperson, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology says, “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…
— ANI (@ANI) July 8, 2025
Continuing Legal Controversies Between X and Indian Authorities
This scandal provides kindling to the current legal conflict between the Indian government and X. In March 2025, X moved a petition in the Karnataka High Court against the Centre, alleging that it was evading legal protection provided under Section 69A by employing Section 79(3)(b), which puts platforms at risk of liability if they fail to delete content identified by authorities.
X has argued that this abuse facilitates an “unlawful blocking regime” and infringes free speech protections.
The recent incident highlights the increasing tension between governments and international tech behemoths regarding the regulation of digital content. The Indian government asserts adherence to due process, while X contends that authorities are arbitrarily applying existing laws to censor information.
