GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 8th July: The Government of India on Tuesday strongly denied microblogging platform X’s claim that the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had issued a fresh blocking order on July 3 targeting 2,355 accounts, including global media outlet Reuters and its handle Reuters World.
A MeitY spokesperson told news agency ANI that while the platform initially blocked the Reuters handles in India, the government immediately instructed X to unblock them as soon as the issue was brought to notice.
The spokesperson further accused X—owned by Elon Musk—of “unnecessarily exploiting technicalities” in the content moderation process and deliberately delaying the unblocking of URLs despite receiving clear instructions from the ministry.
“There was no fresh blocking order against Reuters. The moment the URLs were blocked, the government directed X to restore access, but the platform chose to misuse procedural loopholes,” said the official.
The statement comes amid growing scrutiny over content regulation and freedom of the press on digital platforms in India. X has previously clashed with Indian authorities over takedown orders under Section 69A of the IT Act, with the matter also reaching the courts.
