The Centre has not asked the social media platform X to withhold the account of Reuters, an official spokesperson of the ministry of electronics and information technology clarified on July 6, a day after the UK-based news agency was blocked in India. The government wants the news agency to operate in the country and "working with X continuously" to resolve the issue.
The ministry of electronics and information technology further said there seems to be a "confusion or a technical issue" on the part of X, CNN News18 said in a report.
The government has not asked X to block Reuters in the country and there are so many other handles of the news agency that are still available, indicating it wants the agency to continue its operations here, the report said citing sources.
Since late Saturday evening, the main X handle of Reuters remained inaccessible with the page displaying a “@Reuters has been withheld in IN in response to a legal demand."
After that the X account of Reuters World was also inaccessible, with the reason for the blockage of the two X handles not immediately known.
However, X handles affiliated to Reuters – like Reuters Tech News, Reuters Fact Check, Reuters Pictures, Reuters Asia and Reuters China - remained accessible.
The move to block Reuters has drawn severe criticism from the members of the Opposition. Rajya Sabha MP and Shiv Sena (UBT) member Priyanka Chaturvedi slammed the ban and said the actions make India look “immature and intolerant”.
“The incharge of both MeiTY & I&B set newer lows of competence every single day. It is obvious that the ministries are working to make India look like an overly sensitive nation that can’t handle any criticism thanks to such overreaction. Banning news handles which may have their agenda can easily be tackled by giving a counter argument & making people aware of India’s PoV, but by banning them we only end up looking immature & intolerant,” the MP said on X.
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