Reuters account on Twitter restored in India, email from the company says ‘At this time, we are no longer…’

Elon Musk-owned X has restored access to Reuters’ official account in India, a day after it had been blocked due to a legal request. The main @Reuters account, followed by over 25 million users globally, was withheld in India on Saturday night. Indian users who tried to access it saw a message saying the account had been withheld “in response to a legal demand.” However, a spokesperson for the Indian government’s Press Information Bureau told Reuters that no government agency had requested the block. The official said they were working with X to resolve the issue.Another account, @ReutersWorld, which was also blocked in India, was restored later Sunday night. Announcing that the ban has now been lifted, Reuters quoted an email from X which said “At this time, we are no longer withholding access in INDIA to your account”.

Why Reuters account was banned in India

Official sources told news agency PTI that a request to block Reuters' account was made during Operation Sindoor. The microblogging platform seems to have now acted on that request and blocking Reuters' account in the country.

In an earlier email dated May 16, X had told Reuters: “It is our policy to notify account holders if we receive a legal request from an authorized entity (such as law enforcement or a government agency) to remove content from their account.”“In order to comply with X obligations under India’s local laws, we have withheld your X account in India under the country’s Information Technology Act, 2000; the content remains available elsewhere,” the platform added.X did not specify which content triggered the action, who filed the request, or why it was made. The company noted that users can contact the secretary of India’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry for further action.