X unnecessarily exploited technicalities: Centre refutes 'press censorship' charge

The government told X to unblock the news agency's handles in India immediately after they were blocked, a MeitY spokesperson told news agency ANI.

Elon Musk-owned X, however, "unnecessarily exploited technicalities involved around the process and didn't unblock the URLs," the spokesperson said.

"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 Reuters and Reuters World were blocked on X platform in India, immediately the government wrote to 'X' to unblock them," the spokesperson said.

"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. However, 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," the spokesperson added.

Earlier in the day, X criticised the Indian government over what it called "press censorship", following the blocking of the accounts of Reuters in India.

X, however, claimed that it was ordered by the Indian government on July 3 to block 2,355 accounts, including Reuters, "within one hour without providing justification."

X said they had no choice but to obey the order as they could be penalised if they didn't.

"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 said in a post on Tuesday.

"The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology demanded immediate action - within one hour - without providing justification, and required the accounts to remain blocked until further notice. After public outcry, the government requested X to unblock Reuters and Reuters World," it said.

"We are deeply concerned about ongoing press censorship in India due to these blocking orders. X is exploring all legal options available. Unlike users located in India, X is restricted by Indian law in its ability to bring legal challenges against these executive orders. We urge affected users to pursue legal remedies through the courts," it said.

X has frequently criticised the Indian government over orders on blocking accounts. In March, the social media giant sued the Centre, accusing it of misusing information technology laws to create an "unlawful blocking regime".

In a petition filed in the Karnataka High Court, X cited the Supreme Court verdict in the 2015 Shreya Singhal case, which struck down Section 66A of the IT Act that criminalised sending offensive messages on communication devices.