X blocked Reuters accounts in India

The principle Reuters information account, in addition to the Reuters World account, turned inaccessible to X customers in India on Saturday night. Entry was subsequently restored on Sunday.

Reuters reports that Indian customers making an attempt to view the @Reuters account — which has 25 million followers — as a substitute noticed a message stating that the account “has been withheld in IN (India) in response to a authorized demand.”

Nevertheless, an Indian authorities spokesperson instructed TechCrunch, “There isn’t any requirement from the Authorities of India to withhold Reuters deal with. We’re repeatedly working with X to resolve the issue.”

A Reuters spokesperson stated the information company is “working with X to resolve this matter.” Reuters additionally says its social media staff beforehand acquired a notification from X in Could stating that the corporate was withholding content material on the Indian authorities’s request, although the notification didn’t specify which company made the request or which content material was being focused.

The social media platform previously often known as Twitter (which just lately merged with another Elon Musk company, xAI) has criticized the Indian government over calls for that it block sure accounts and posts.

It even sued the government in March, claiming {that a} new web site permits “unrestrained censorship of data in India” by unlawfully enabling “numerous” public officers to take down content material or block accounts. The federal government stated the web site solely allowed it to inform firms about dangerous on-line content material.

Final 12 months, X additionally engaged in a protracted battle with Brazil’s Supreme Courtroom, which noticed the service shut down operations in the country, then get banned for more than a month.

X didn’t instantly reply to a TechCrunch request for remark. Reuters didn’t instantly reply to a TechCrunch’s extra questions on its communication with the Indian authorities and X.

The publish has been up to date to mirror that the Reuters accounts have been restored. Extra reporting by Jagmeet Singh.