Elon Musk’s platform X revealed Thursday that the Indian government has ordered it to block more than 8,000 accounts or face serious penalties, including prison time for local employees.
According to the company’s global government affairs team, the executive orders came with threats of “significant fines and imprisonment” if X failed to comply. The platform has begun restricting access to the flagged accounts within India, but criticized the move as a form of censorship.
The accounts targeted include international news organizations and high-profile users, according to X. The company said it is complying by blocking the accounts only within India, while openly disagreeing with the government’s demands.
“In most cases, the Indian government has not specified which posts from an account have violated India’s local laws,” the X team said. “For a significant number of accounts, we did not receive any evidence or justification to block the accounts.”
The censorship orders come as military tensions between India and Pakistan intensify following a terrorist attack in Kashmir last month that left 26 tourists dead. India has also blocked more than a dozen Pakistani YouTube channels in recent weeks, accusing them of spreading “provocative” content. Many of the channels belong to Pakistani media outlets.
Meta also took down a major Muslim news page from Instagram at the Indian government’s request, the page’s founder said Wednesday.
X’s disclosure comes just a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with Musk to discuss expanding Tesla operations in India. The company plans to open showrooms in Delhi and Mumbai, while Musk’s satellite firm, Starlink, is seeking final approval to launch service in the country.
