WASHINGTON: India has ordered X to block more than 8,000 accounts, the platform said Thursday, adding that it was reluctantly complying with what it described as government-imposed “censorship.”
The move appears to be part of India’s sweeping crackdown targeting social media accounts of Pakistani politicians, celebrities and media organizations amid heightened tensions and deadly confrontations between the nuclear-armed neighbors.
The order, which X said includes demands to block international news organizations and other prominent users, comes a day after Meta banned a prominent Muslim news page on Instagram in India at New Delhi’s request.
“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 site’s global government affairs team said in a statement.
It added that in most cases, the government had not specified which posts from the accounts violated Indian laws, and in many others, it provided no evidence or justification for the blocks.
The Elon Musk-owned platform said it disagreed with the demands but it had begun the process to withhold the specified accounts in India.
“Blocking entire accounts is not only unnecessary, it amounts to censorship of existing and future content, and is contrary to the fundamental right of free speech,” the statement said.
“This is not an easy decision, however keeping the platform accessible in India is vital to Indians’ ability to access information.”
The move comes amid fierce fighting between India and Pakistan, two weeks after New Delhi blamed Islamabad for backing a deadly attack on tourists in the Indian-run side of the disputed Muslim-majority region of Kashmir.
Pakistan rejects the charge.
At least 48 people have been killed on both sides of the border in escalating violence since India launched air strikes on Wednesday that it said targeted “terrorist camps.”
Both countries accused each other on Thursday of carrying out waves of drone attacks.
X said it could not make the Indian executive orders public due to legal restrictions, but it encouraged the impacted users to seek “appropriate relief from the courts.”
It did not name the affected users, but in recent days the Indian media has reported that the country has blocked the X accounts of Pakistani politician Bilawal Bhutto Zardari and Pakistan’s former prime minister and cricket captain Imran Khan.
India has also banned more than a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels for allegedly spreading “provocative” content, including Pakistani news outlets.
Pakistani Bollywood movie regulars Fawad Khan and Atif Aslam were also off limits in India, as well as a wide range of cricketers — including star batters Babar Azam and Mohammad Rizwan and retired players Shahid Afridi and Wasim Akram.
Rising hostilities between the South Asian neighbors have unleashed an avalanche of online misinformation, with social media users circulating everything from deepfake videos to outdated images from unrelated conflicts, falsely linking them to the ongoing fighting.

RAMALLAH: Israel’s military said on Thursday it would hold a Palestinian journalist arrested last month in administrative detention, raising fresh concerns over press freedom.

Ali Al-Samudi, 58, would remain in custody until October due to “considerations for the security of the region and public safety,” the military said in a newly published decree.

The Palestinian Commission for Detainees and the Palestinian Prisoners Club denounced the decision and Samudi’s treatment since his arrest on April 29.

His detention, they said in a joint statement, was part of Israel’s increasing use of administrative detention against journalists since the Gaza war began.

They said the practice had “intensified dramatically.”

Samudi is a freelance journalist who works with several outlets, including Al Jazeera.

He was with Shireen Abu Akleh when she was killed by gunfire in Jenin on May 11, 2022. He was shot and wounded in the shoulder.

The Prisoners Club says Israel has detained 50 Palestinian journalists since the Gaza war began on Oct. 7, 2023, with 20 held under administrative detention.

The practice, a legacy of the British Mandate, allows Israel to detain people without charge, with detentions renewable indefinitely.

The commission and the club held Israel responsible for Samudi’s life and fate, saying he “suffers from several health issues and previous injuries.”

The Journalists’ Syndicate and Palestinian human rights organizations have reported the killing of more than 200 journalists in the Gaza Strip.

Other journalists have gone missing during the ongoing war, while Israel continues to prevent foreign journalists from entering Gaza.

In a statement published last week, the Jerusalem-based Foreign Press Association noted that “never in Israel’s history has the government imposed sweeping restrictions on the media for such an extended period.”

Between 2024 and 2025, Israel went down 11 places on Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom Index, from 101 to 112 respectively.