X says it blocked 8,000 accounts in India after government's executive orders

New Delhi: Social media platform X said on Thursday that it has started blocking 8,000 accounts in India following executive orders from the government.

In a post on X's Global Government Affairs handle, the platform said it received executive orders from the Indian government requiring it to block over 8,000 accounts in the country "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 organisations and prominent X users. In most cases, the Indian government has not specified which posts from an account have violated India's local laws. For a significant number of accounts, we did not receive any evidence or justification to block the accounts," X said.

It further said that to comply with the orders, it will withhold the specified accounts in India alone.

"We have begun that process. However, we disagree with the Indian government's demands. Blocking entire accounts is not only unnecessary, it amounts to censorship of existing and future content..." X said the decision is not an easy one, but "keeping the platform accessible in India is vital to Indians' ability to access information".

"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 said it is exploring all possible legal avenues available to the company.

"Unlike users located in India, X is restricted by Indian law in its ability to bring legal challenges against these executive orders. However, we encourage all users who are impacted by these blocking orders to seek appropriate relief from the courts," the post by X said.