X claims many accounts were blocked without clear reasons or evidence.
The platform cannot publish the executive orders due to legal restrictions.
Affected users are advised to seek legal support independently.
The Indian government has asked Elon Musk-owned social media platform X (formerly Twitter) to block more than 8,000 accounts in the country over several legal violations. The social media platform, in a statement on Thursday night, said that it has begun complying with executive orders from the government. The company revealed that the directive includes accounts belonging to international news organizations and prominent users on the platform.
These orders have been issued under India’s new IT laws that came into existence a few years ago. X faces hefty fines and potential imprisonment of its local employees if these orders are not followed.
“X has received executive orders from the Indian government requiring X to block over 8,000 accounts in India, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment of the company’s local employees. The orders include demands to block access in India to accounts belonging to international news organizations and prominent X users,” the statement said.
However, the platform has expressed disagreement with the government’s demands, stating that blocking entire accounts without clarity or justification is “unnecessary” and “amounts to censorship of existing and future content.” The company emphasised that such blanket blocks undermine the fundamental right to free speech.
“Keeping the platform accessible in India is vital to Indians’ ability to access information,” the company said, explaining that although the decision was difficult, compliance was necessary to avoid risking platform access in the country.
According to X, in most cases the Indian government has not specified which specific posts violated Indian law. Furthermore, the company claimed it has not received evidence or reasoning for blocking many of the targeted accounts.. While X has started the process of restricting the identified accounts in India alone, it noted that the law limits the platform’s ability to independently challenge such executive actions, encouraging affected users to seek legal redress themselves.
In a bid to promote transparency, X said it wishes to make the executive orders public but is legally restricted from doing so.
“We believe that making these executive orders public is essential for transparency – lack of disclosure discourages accountability and can contribute to arbitrary decision making. However, due to legal restrictions, we are unable to publish the executive orders at this time,” it said.
X is offering support to impacted users and directed them to legal aid organisations such as iProbono India, the National Legal Services Authority, Karnataka Legal Services Authority, and the Supreme Court Legal Services. The platform has also issued individual notifications to affected users, who may also contact the government directly at cyberlaw@meity.gov.in.
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