The main Reuters news account, as well as the Reuters World account, became inaccessible to X users in India on Saturday evening. Access was subsequently restored on Sunday.
Reuters reports that Indian users attempting to view the @Reuters account — which has 25 million followers — instead saw a message stating that the account “has been withheld in IN (India) in response to a legal demand.”
However, an Indian government spokesperson told TechCrunch, “There is no requirement from the Government of India to withhold Reuters handle. We are continuously working with X to resolve the problem.”
A Reuters spokesperson said the news agency is “working with X to resolve this matter.” Reuters also says its social media team previously received a notification from X in May stating that the company was withholding content at the Indian government’s request, though the notification did not specify which agency made the request or which content was being targeted.
The social media platform formerly known as Twitter (which recently merged with another Elon Musk company, xAI) has criticized the Indian government over demands that it block certain accounts and posts.
It even sued the government in March, claiming that a new website allows “unrestrained censorship of information in India” by unlawfully enabling “countless” public officials to take down content or block accounts. The government said the website only allowed it to notify companies about harmful online content.
Last year, X also engaged in a protracted battle with Brazil’s Supreme Court, which saw the service shut down operations in the country, then get banned for more than a month.
X did not immediately respond to a TechCrunch request for comment. Reuters did not immediately respond to a TechCrunch’s additional questions about its communication with the Indian government and X.
The post has been updated to reflect that the Reuters accounts have been restored. Additional reporting by Jagmeet Singh.