Reuters Accounts Briefly Blocked in India: What Happened?
It seems like there was a bit of a kerfuffle with Reuters' accounts on X (formerly Twitter) in India. For a while, users in India couldn't access the main Reuters news account or the Reuters World account. When trying to view @Reuters, which boasts a whopping 25 million followers, they were greeted with a message saying the account was withheld in India due to a legal demand.
That's definitely not something you see every day! What makes this even more interesting is that an Indian government spokesperson has come out saying, "Hold on, we didn't ask for this!" They claim they're working with X to figure out what went wrong. Reuters also confirmed they are on it too.
Here's where it gets even murkier. Apparently, Reuters received a notification from X back in May saying that some content was being withheld at the Indian government’s request. The thing is, the notification didn’t specify who made the request or what content was targeted.
If you've been following the news, you probably know that X and the Indian government haven't exactly been the best of friends lately. X has been pretty vocal about what it sees as censorship demands from the government. They even sued them in March, arguing that a new website lets officials take down content or block accounts without restraint. The government, on the other hand, says the website is just a way to notify companies about harmful content.
X didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. Thankfully, access to Reuters' accounts has since been restored. It makes you wonder what exactly happened behind the scenes. Maybe it was a misunderstanding, or perhaps a glitch in the system. Whatever the reason, it highlights the complex relationship between social media platforms and governments.
Source: TechCrunch