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The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Thursday called for the Indian government to institute “transparency and due process” when imposing social media restrictions, following numerous international news organizations reporting that their X accounts had been withheld in India due to a “legal demand” from the evening of July 5 to July 7.
CPJ’s representative in India, Kunal Majumder, described the incident as an example of “the serious lack of transparency and accountability in how the Indian government issues and enforces orders for the removal of social media content and the blocking of accounts.” He called for such restrictions to be based on “clear legal grounds, be subject to independent judicial oversight, and not infringe on press freedom.”
According to X, the Indian government ordered the social media platform to “block 2,355 accounts … under Section 69A of the IT act … within one hour” on July 3 under risk of “criminal liability” if it refused to comply. Section 69A of the IT act states that the government can “direct any agency of the Government or intermediary to block for access by the public … any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource.” Failure to comply is punishable by “an imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and also be liable to fine.” Reuters, Reuters World, TRT World, and the Global Times were among the organizations reportedly blocked.
The Indian government contradicted these claims, stating that no such order had been given. An official from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology claimed that the block had mistakenly occurred as a delayed response to Operation Sindoor, an security directive launched in May to address “an aggressive campaign launched by Pakistan-full of lies and misinformation.” Under this directive, X reported on May 8 that it had received executive orders to block around 8,000 accounts which included Reuters and others. The official stated that the ministry had written to X to request an explanation for the recent blocking.
X stated that it is “deeply concerned about ongoing press censorship in India due to these blocking orders.” The platform called on individual users based in India to “pursue legal remedies through the courts,” and has itself sued the government for the unlawful expansion of censorship powers to remove online content.
The Indian government’s recent censorship measures follow the April 22 killing of 26 tourists in India-administered Kashmir by a terrorist group called “The Resistance Front.” The government has been criticized for the escalation of restrictions, which had been considered excessive prior to the attacks according to the South Asia Press Freedom Report 2024-2025.
The post Press freedom group urges transparency after India allegedly blocks global news outlets’ X accounts appeared first on JURIST - News.
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CPJ’s representative in India, Kunal Majumder, described the incident as an example of “the serious lack of transparency and accountability in how the Indian government issues and enforces orders for the removal of social media content and the blocking of accounts.” He called for such restrictions to be based on “clear legal grounds, be subject to independent judicial oversight, and not infringe on press freedom.”
According to X, the Indian government ordered the social media platform to “block 2,355 accounts … under Section 69A of the IT act … within one hour” on July 3 under risk of “criminal liability” if it refused to comply. Section 69A of the IT act states that the government can “direct any agency of the Government or intermediary to block for access by the public … any information generated, transmitted, received, stored or hosted in any computer resource.” Failure to comply is punishable by “an imprisonment for a term which may extend to seven years and also be liable to fine.” Reuters, Reuters World, TRT World, and the Global Times were among the organizations reportedly blocked.
The Indian government contradicted these claims, stating that no such order had been given. An official from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology claimed that the block had mistakenly occurred as a delayed response to Operation Sindoor, an security directive launched in May to address “an aggressive campaign launched by Pakistan-full of lies and misinformation.” Under this directive, X reported on May 8 that it had received executive orders to block around 8,000 accounts which included Reuters and others. The official stated that the ministry had written to X to request an explanation for the recent blocking.
X stated that it is “deeply concerned about ongoing press censorship in India due to these blocking orders.” The platform called on individual users based in India to “pursue legal remedies through the courts,” and has itself sued the government for the unlawful expansion of censorship powers to remove online content.
The Indian government’s recent censorship measures follow the April 22 killing of 26 tourists in India-administered Kashmir by a terrorist group called “The Resistance Front.” The government has been criticized for the escalation of restrictions, which had been considered excessive prior to the attacks according to the South Asia Press Freedom Report 2024-2025.
The post Press freedom group urges transparency after India allegedly blocks global news outlets’ X accounts appeared first on JURIST - News.
Continue reading...
Note: We don't have any responsibilities about this news. Its been posted here by Feed Reader and we had no controls and checking on it. And because News posted here will be deleted automatically after 21 days, threads are closed so that no one spend time to post and discuss here. You can always check the source and discuss in their site.