After the official X account of international news agency Reuters was withheld, India has withheld Chinese paper Global Times and the Turkish public broadcaster TRT News' X accounts, presumably since the night of July 5. The X accounts cite that the move was made in response to a “legal demand”.
Indian users attempting to access the account since late Saturday have been met with a notice stating, “@Reuters has been withheld in IN in response to a legal demand.”
Despite widespread speculation, the Government of India has denied any role in the restriction. A government spokesperson stated on Sunday, “There is no requirement from the Government of India to withhold Reuters, and we are continuously working with X to resolve the problem.”
The spokesperson’s clarification comes amid reports suggesting that the block may be a delayed result of a prior request made during Operation Sindoor, a national security exercise during which the government sought to restrict multiple social media accounts. According to PTI, Reuters' handle was included in that earlier list, but was not acted upon at the time. The current block may stem from that original request being executed now.
As of 11:40 PM on Saturday, Reuters World was also inaccessible in India. However, other affiliated handles—including Reuters Tech News, Reuters Fact Check, Reuters Pictures, Reuters Asia, and Reuters China—remain accessible from Indian networks.
The platform X, meanwhile, reiterated its global policy on content withholding:
“In our continuing effort to make our services available to people everywhere, if we receive a valid and properly scoped request from an authorized entity, it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in a particular country from time to time.”
