Reuters X account restored in India

7/7/2025 6:05

The Reuters News account

on X was restored in India on Sunday, a day after the social

media platform suspended it, citing a legal demand.

"At this time, we are no longer withholding access in INDIA to

your account," X said in an email to the Reuters social media

team, without elaborating.

Representatives for X, Reuters and the Indian government did

not immediately respond to requests for comment on the

restoration of the account.

Earlier on Sunday, a spokesperson for the Indian government's

Press Information Bureau told Reuters that no Indian government

agency had required withholding the Reuters handle, adding that

officials were working with X to resolve the problem.

A Reuters spokesperson had said the agency was working with X to

resolve this matter and get the Reuters account reinstated in

India as soon as possible.

Reuters World, another X account operated by the news agency

which was blocked in India, was also restored late Sunday night.

The main Reuters account, which has more than 25 million

followers globally, had been blocked in India since Saturday

night. A notice told X users that "@Reuters has been withheld in

IN (India) in response to a legal demand".



In an email to the Reuters social media team on May 16, X

said: "It is our policy to notify account holders if we receive

a legal request from an authorized entity (such as law

enforcement or a government agency) to remove content from their

account."



"In order to comply with X obligations under India's local

laws, we have withheld your X account in India under the

country's Information Technology Act, 2000; the content remains

available elsewhere".

Reuters could not ascertain if the May 16 email was linked to

Saturday's account suspension nor could it determine what

specific content the demand referred to, why its removal was

sought or the entity that had lodged the complaint.

While the email did not specify which entity had made the

request or what content they sought to remove, it said X had

been advised that in such cases, a user could contact the

secretary of India's Information and Broadcasting Ministry.



The secretary, Sanjay Jaju, did not respond to requests

seeking comment.

The 2000 law allows designated government officials to demand

the takedown of content from social media platforms they deem to

violate local laws, including on the grounds of national

security or if a post threatens public order.

X has long been at odds with India's government over

content-removal requests. In March, the company sued the federal

government over a new government website the company says

expands takedown powers to "countless" government officials.



The case is continuing. India has said X wrongly labelled an

official website a "censorship portal", as the website only

allows tech companies to be notified about harmful online

content.