Indian govt blocks access to local news website ‘The Wire’

ISLAMABAD: The Indian government has blocked access to a news site, The Wire, across India on Friday under the IT Act, 2000, on the directives of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the news site reported while posting on X handle.

The publication has termed this as “a clear violation of the freedom of the press,” adding that “We protest this blatant censorship at a critical time for India when sane, truthful, fair and rational voices and sources of news and information are among the biggest assets that India has.”

“We are taking all necessary steps to challenge this arbitrary and inexplicable move said the wire in its statement. The Wire has thanked all its readers and urged their support at this time.

Earlier, the Indian Government had issued executive orders to X to block over 8,000 accounts in India. In a post shared by the platform’s official Global Government Affairs account, “X has received executive orders from the Indian government requiring X to block over 8,000 accounts in India while threatening potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment of the company’s local employees.”

“In most cases, the Indian government has not specified which posts from an account violated local laws,” X stated. It added, “For a significant number of accounts, we received no evidence or justification to support the blocking requests.”

The company noted it is currently unable to publish the orders due to legal constraints, adding that it is exploring all available legal avenues to challenge the demands.