The primary Reuters news account and the Reuters World handle became inaccessible to users across India on Saturday evening, sparking concerns over digital censorship. Access to the accounts, which boast millions of followers, was restored by Sunday following a brief period of disruption.
The Scope of the Disruption
Indian users attempting to access the main Reuters account—which commands a following of 25 million—were greeted by a system message. The notification stated that the account had been “withheld in IN (India) in response to a legal demand.”
A spokesperson for Reuters confirmed the agency is actively “working with X to resolve this matter.” Records indicate that the Reuters social media team had previously received a notification from X in May, alerting them that content was being withheld at the Indian government’s request, though the specific agency or content involved remained undisclosed.
Government Denies Involvement
Despite the platform’s claims of a legal demand, an Indian government spokesperson explicitly denied issuing any order to restrict Reuters. “There is no requirement from the Government of India to withhold Reuters handle. We are continuously working with X to resolve the problem,” the official stated.
A History of Platform Tensions
This incident occurs against a backdrop of ongoing friction between X—now integrated with Elon Musk’s xAI—and the Indian authorities. X has been a vocal critic of New Delhi’s demands to remove specific posts and suspend accounts.
In March, X initiated legal action against the Indian government, challenging a regulatory framework that it claims facilitates “unrestrained censorship of information.” The company argued that the system enables public officials to force the removal of content without adequate oversight. Conversely, the government maintains that the portal is strictly used to notify companies regarding harmful online content.
These regulatory struggles mirror X’s broader international challenges, most notably the high-profile conflict with Brazil’s Supreme Court last year, which resulted in the platform being banned across the country for over a month.
Neither X nor Reuters provided further comment on the specific nature of the communications regarding the brief weekend blackout.