Government Blocks X Handles of Global Times, Xinhua News and TRT World
The Wire Staff
New Delhi: The X handles of key news websites of Chinese and Turkish media, including Global Times, Xinhua News and TRT World, are now blocked in India.
On X, these accounts show a message that they have been withheld in India in response to a legal demand.
The Indian Embassy in China had earlier claimed that the Global Times had been misinforming people on updates amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan. In a post on X, the embassy had said: “Dear Global Timesnews, we would recommend you verify your facts and cross-examine your sources before pushing out this kind of disinformation."
Reports have said that the embassy's comment was likely a result of claims that a Rafale jet had been shot down by Pakistan at Bahawalpur.
(3/n) @PIBFactCheck had brought to light instances of fake news with old images showing crashed aircrafts being re-circulated in various forms in the current context of #OperationSindoor.
While one is from an earlier incident involving an Indian Air Force (IAF) MiG-29 fighter jet… pic.twitter.com/QVKUplKYry— India in China (@EOIBeijing) May 7, 2025
Meanwhile, the Ministry of External Affairs has also refuted China's claim on Arunachal Pradesh and has objected to its attempt to rename places in the state.
Turkey has been on the receiving end of Indian social media commentators' hatred over its purported support to Pakistan. TRT World has reported on the tension and violence. It was while speaking to TRT World that Pakistan’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister M. Ishaq Dar had reiterated Pakistan’s claim that it had shot down five Indian fighter jets.
On May 8, X said it had received executive orders from the Indian government asking it to block over 8,000 accounts in India. The global government affairs account of X was itself blocked for a while after it wrote this post. Eventually, this post was blocked but the account was restored.
On May 9, access to The Wire's website has been blocked by some Internet Service Providers following government orders. It was restored after 24 hours.
Social media accounts of other independent media organisations, including Maktoob Media, have also been blocked.
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