On May 8, 2025 social media platform X (which was formerly Twitter) reported that they had removed over 8,000 accounts in India at the request of the Indian government. The government issued executive orders which asked X to put in place the restrictions which they did also as a note there may be large fines put forward and in very serious cases imprisonment of the company’s local staff.
Background of the Event
The government put out executive orders which saw over 8000 accounts blocked in India. At the time there was an increase in tension between India and Pakistan which followed the Pahalgam terror attack that took place April 22 which had 26 casualties. We are told that what prompted the orders was the issue of misinformation campaigns which we are to understand came from Pakistan. Also included in the block were international news organizations and popular X users. In the main they did not report which of the posts from the account’s broke local laws, also they did not put forth evidence or justification for the large scale account blocking.
X’s Response
In a blog post out of the Global Government Affairs account X reported that it had received from the Indian government executive orders to block over 8,000 accounts in India. While we may not agree with what the government is asking for we at X note that we are left to remove full accounts which we see as a form of censorship that also affects future content that we wish to post also it goes against the basic human right to freedom of speech. But at the same time as we are concerned for our platform’s use in India, which is very much a key to Indian people’s info access, so we have no other choice but to follow the orders. We will put these blocked accounts off access only within the country of India. Also, as far as we are aware the government has not put out public what the executive orders actually say — to us that is not transparent enough we feel that publication of such orders would go a long way in terms of transparency, although at present that is not possible for us due to legal issues we can’t get into. Also looking at how else we can take action in the legal field we are going in those directions also we tell the affected users to go to the courts on their own.
Implications of the Decision
This is yet another report of social media companies’ conflict with Indian authorities on issue of content moderation and censorship. Global tech companies are reporting to grow in numbers of issues they have with India’s ever more stringent digital regulations. The decision has brought into question issues of free speech, transparency, and government regulation of social media. While critics put forth that the government is in fact engaging in censorship which in turn is a blow to free speech, supporters present that it is a step to put an end to misinform and secure national peace.
Outcomes of the Government’s Action.
Also to what X did the Indian government add to the executive orders it passed. They banned over dozen Pakistani YouTube channels, restricted access to former Prime Minister Imran Khan’s Instagram account, and blacklisted many public figures put forward by Pakistan. These actions took place in the background of an increase in online misinformation which saw social media users share in large scale doctored or out of date visual content including deepfake videos which they presented as related to recent cross border incidents.
