Government blocks Reuters account over on-going press censorship in India
Government blocks Reuters account over on-going press censorship in India
News comes to the forefront that the Government has blocked the Reuters account in the wake of on-going censorship in India.
However, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), which X said had issued the July 3 directive, denies any such instruction been given
According to Elon Musk-owned X, the Indian government had on July 3 ordered it to block as many as 2,355 accounts, including those belonging to international news agency Reuters.
The directive, issued under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act, had demanded immediate compliance within one hour and did not provide any justification, the company said in a statement.
As per the company’s Global Government Affairs team in its statement the accounts were blocked for Indian users, with a legal notice stating the action was taken “in response to a legal demand”. Among the accounts put under shadows were @Reuters and @ReutersWorld, two of the company’s prominent global news handles.
The blocking was followed by a backlash on X.
Following public outcry, the government requested X to unblock @Reuters and @ReutersWorld,”
The blocking and subsequent unblocking of Reuters’ accounts sparked a contradiction between the government and the platform.
News Edit KV Raman
