Reuters X account blocked in India due to legal demand

The official X account of international news agency Reuters has been restricted in India following a “legal demand.” So far, Reuters has not issued a statement clarifying the reason behind the blocking of its account.

Reuters is the news and media division of Thomson Reuters. The company says it employs 2,600 journalists in over 200 locations. The X account of Reuters World was also inaccessible as of 11:40 pm on Saturday.

The main handle of Reuters remains inaccessible as of 11:30 pm, saying, “@Reuters has been withheld in IN in response to a legal demand," News 18 reported.

Despite the main @Reuters X account being blocked in India, several affiliated handles remain accessible. These including Reuters Tech News, Reuters Fact Check, Reuters Pictures, Reuters Asia and Reuters China.

According to X, many countries, including the US, have laws that may apply to posts and/or X account content.

“In our continuing effort to make our services available to people everywhere, if we receive a valid and properly scoped request from an authorized entity, it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in a particular country from time to time,” X wrote.

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

It added, “Such withholdings will be limited to the specific jurisdiction that has issued the valid legal demand or where the content has been found to violate local law(s).”

The block appears to be country-specific as the account is still accessible from other regions.

It is not yet known whether the block is temporary or permanent, or whether it is linked to a specific report or legal order issued against the platform.