New Delhi: The government Sunday contradicted the claim by ‘X’ that the primary and world handles of news agency Reuters were withheld in India “in response” to a legal demand. “There is no requirement from the Government of India to withhold the Reuters handle,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Electronics and IT (MeitY) told ThePrint.
Adding, the government is “continuously working with X to resolve the problem”.
The clarification came hours after Reuters primary and world handles on X (formerly Twitter) were withheld in India shortly after midnight Sunday.
X, the micro-blogging platform of which Tesla CEO reportedly owns nearly 10 percent, said the handles were withheld “in response to a legal demand”.
Reuters is the news and media division of the Thomson Reuters Corporation, headquartered in Toronto. It employs 2,600 journalists across 165 countries.
ThePrint has reached Reuters for comment but had not received a response by the time of publication. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
While primary and world handles of the news service remain withheld in India, users are still able to access more than 30 active Reuters secondary handles on X, including @ReutersTechNews, @ReutersFactCheck, @ReutersAsia, @ReutersChina, and @ReutersPictures.
The Reuters news website too is accessible to users in the country.
X had, in the immediate aftermath of Operation Sindoor, issued a statement saying it received more than 8,000 takedown requests from the Indian government which cited national security concerns.
ThePrint has also reached X for clarification via email, given MeitY’s official statement, but had not received a response by the time of publication. This report will be updated if and when a response is received.
Update: The Reuters primary and world handles were restored on 6 July 2025, less than 24 hours after they were withheld by X
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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