There has been no requirement from the Indian government to withhold the Reuters account on the social media platform X, the Centre said 

An official spokesperson for the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) today said, “There is no requirement from the Government of India to withhold Reuters handle. We are continuously working with X to resolve the problem.”

The X handle of the international news agency Reuters is currently unavailable for users in India with a message stating that its account has been withheld in India “in response to a legal demand.” Users who attempted to access the Reuters account in India encountered the message- “Account withheld. @ Reuters has been withheld in IN in response to a legal demand.”

The X handles of Turkiye’s TRT, China’s Global Times also encountered the same “account withheld” message. On its help centre page, the Elon Musk-owned platform X explains such messages “about country withheld content” means that X was compelled to withhold the entire account specified or posts in response to a valid legal demand, such as a court order or local laws.

“If you see the above message, it means X withheld content based on local law(s) in response to a report filed through specific support intake channels,” the X page detailed.