- Indian law allows govt to demand takedown of social media content.
- Empowers New Delhi to rely on national security, public order threat.
- X has long been at odds with Indian govt over content-removal issue.
NEW DELHI: The Reuters News account on X has been restored in India, a day after the social media platform suspended it citing a legal demand.
“At this time, we are no longer withholding access in INDIA to your account,” X said in an email to the Reuters social media team, without elaborating.
Representatives for X, Reuters and the Indian government did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the restoration of the account.
Earlier on Sunday, a spokesperson for the Indian government’s Press Information Bureau told Reuters that no Indian government agency had required withholding the Reuters handle, adding that officials were working with X to resolve the problem.
A Reuters spokesperson had said the agency was working with X to resolve this matter and get the Reuters account reinstated in India as soon as possible.
Reuters World, another X account operated by the news agency, which was blocked in India, was also restored late Sunday night.
The main Reuters account, which has more than 25 million followers globally, had been blocked in India since Saturday night. A notice told X users that “@Reuters has been withheld in IN (India) in response to a legal demand”.
In an email to the Reuters social media team on May 16, X said: “It is our policy to notify account holders if we receive a legal request from an authorised entity (such as law enforcement or a government agency) to remove content from their account.”
“In order to comply with X obligations under India’s local laws, we have withheld your X account in India under the country’s Information Technology Act, 2000; the content remains available elsewhere”.
Reuters could not ascertain if the May 16 email was linked to Saturday’s account suspension, nor could it determine what specific content the demand referred to, why its removal was sought or the entity that had lodged the complaint.
While the email did not specify which entity had made the request or what content they sought to remove, it said X had been advised that in such cases, a user could contact the secretary of India’s Information and Broadcasting Ministry.
The secretary, Sanjay Jaju, did not respond to requests seeking comment.
The 2000 law allows designated government officials to demand the takedown of content from social media platforms they deem to violate local laws, including on the grounds of national security or if a post threatens public order.
X has long been at odds with India’s government over content-removal requests. In March, the company sued the federal government over a new government website that the company says expands takedown powers to “countless” government officials.
The case is continuing. India has said X wrongly labelled an official website a “censorship portal”, as the website only allows tech companies to be notified about harmful online content.
