The controversy around the blocking of Reuters handles in India has reignited concerns about the opaque online censorship of journalists and social media accounts in the country.
This week, in another standoff with the Narendra Modi government, X said it had blocked access to Reuters and over 2,300 other accounts on orders from the IT Ministry – a claim later denied by the government. This came months after X pointed out that the government had similarly ordered the blocking of over 8,000 accounts after Operation Sindoor. Among those temporarily blocked online included news portals like The Kashmiriyat, Free Press Kashmir, Maktoob Media, and BBC Urdu, as well as several journalists.
Now, replies to an RTI application again point to the government’s refusal to share details of these blocking orders, citing “national security”.
Venkatesh Nayak, director, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative, New Delhi, had filed an RTI query on May 12 with the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, requesting copies of the blocking orders sent to X and internet service providers.
“The ministry invoked Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act relating to national security and rejected the request. It also said that under the IT Act and related Rules, all information on this subject is required to be kept confidential. This includes the take-down orders, too,” said Nayak.
The ministry, however, did not specify which of the seven provisions of Section 8 (1)(a) of the RTI Act it considered for rejecting to share the information.
The RTI application was later transferred to the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Two central public information officers of the ministry responded to Nayak separately on June 24 and on July 2.
The reply on June 24 said the Media Unit Cell-I does not have any information sought.
“Last week [July 2], a second CPIO issued a reply rejecting the request by merely citing Section 8(1)(a) of the RTI Act without explaining which of the seven grounds mentioned in it are attracted,” said Nayak.
He added, “These kinds of knee-jerk actions smack of arbitrariness, especially when the government refuses to publish the take-down/blocking orders that contain the rationale. These regressive actions also curb people’s fundamental right to know, twice over – first by limiting people’s access to crucial information about matters like Operation Sindoor and second by denying people the right to know the rationale behind the actions of the very government they have elected to deal with matters of national security.”
Similar directives
In May, The Wire was also briefly blocked. After the news portal wrote to the information technology ministry, it received a response from the information and broadcasting ministry suggesting it was blocked for mentioning a CNN report on Rafale jets, the news outlet said. The block was ostensibly lifted after The Wire pulled down the article.
Newslaundry had earlier reported on X admitting to taking down around 250 accounts of journalists and activists posting about the 2021 farmers’ protest. The Modi government had issued similar directives in April 2021 to remove tweets that were critical of the government’s Covid response.
In June 2022, X had approached the Karnataka High Court, challenging a certain section of the IT Act (IT Act) by arguing that the government authorities in India are bypassing proper legal procedures and setting up an illegal system to block content online.
Following the mass blocking of X handles after Operation Sindoor in May 2025, digital rights advocacy group Software Freedom Law Center, India (SFLC.in) criticised the government’s move, and said “censorship actions hinder access to credible information” rather than addressing misinformation. SFLC had also urged the government to release all blocking orders in the public domain and ensure adherence to due process.
“Censorship actions hinder access to credible information, creating public confusion rather than addressing misinformation,” SFLC.in said in its statement.
This report was republished from Newslaundry as part of The News Minute-Newslaundry alliance. Read more about our partnership here.