X says government had ordered blocking of Reuters handle

Contradicting a Union government statement, X (formerly Twitter) said in a statement on Tuesday (July 8, 2025) that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology had indeed requested the firm to block access to the handles of newswire agency Reuters, in addition to over 2,000 other accounts.

X said it was “restricted by Indian law in its ability to bring legal challenges against these executive orders” and was “deeply concerned about ongoing press censorship in India due to these blocking orders”.

The order to block 2,355 handles was issued on July 3, 2025, with action demanded “within one hour,” X said. In the event, the platform appeared to have only acted on the request late Saturday (July 5, 2025) evening. Among the handles blocked were @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, which curate the British newswire agency’s articles on the platform. Spokespeople for Reuters and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office did not respond to a request for comment from The Hindu at the time.

“After public outcry, the government requested X to unblock @Reuters and @ReutersWorld,” X said. 

The IT Ministry issued a statement on Sunday (July 6, 2025) afternoon saying, “There is no requirement from the Government of India to withhold Reuters handle,” and that it was “continuously  working with X to resolve the problem.” Later that day, the handles were unblocked.

“Non-compliance risked criminal liability [and the orders] required the accounts to remain blocked until further notice,” X said.