Reuters X account in India blocked due to legal demand

The official X (formerly twitter) account of International news agency Reuters has been blocked in India due to a legal demand. Reuter has not issued a statement clarifying reason behind blocking of its account.

Reuters is a news and media divisions of Thomson Reuters. The company has 2,600 journalists in over 200 locations. The X account of the Reuters World became inaccessible as of 11.40 PM on Saturday.

The main handle of Reuters is also inaccessible as of 11.30 pm. Media several houses reported, “@Reuters has been withheld in response to a legal demand.”

Despite the main X account being blocked, affiliated handles are accessible. These include, Reuters Tech news, Reuters Fact Check, Reuters Pictures, Reuters Asia and Reuters China.

As per the X guidelines, it says that the content can be withheld if X was compelled to withhold it in response to a valid legal demand, such as court order. It can also be blocked on the basis of local laws in response to a report filed through specific support to intake channels.

The block appears to be country-specific. Further details awaited.

However spokesperson, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said, “”There is no requirement from the Government of India to withhold the Reuters handle. We are continuously working with ‘X’ to resolve the problem.”