“Account withheld” message displayed upon opening X account of Global Times.
The X accounts of Global Times and Xinhua on Wednesday (May 14, 2025) showed that it has been withheld in India in response to a legal request. An email query sent to the Ministry of Electronics and IT elicited no immediate reply in this regard.
This development comes in the backdrop of Beijing announcing Chinese names for some places in Arunachal Pradesh, which it claims as southern part of Tibet. Meanwhile, India on Wednesday (May 14, 2025) outrightly rejected as “vain and preposterous” the renaming and said such attempts will not alter the “undeniable” reality that the state “was, is, and will” always remain an integral part of India.
“We have noticed that China has persisted with its vain and preposterous attempts to name places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said. “Consistent with our principled position, we reject such attempts categorically,” he said.
Upon opening the X accounts of Global Times and China Xinhua News, the message “Account Withheld” is displayed.
On May 8, 2025, X received executive orders from the Indian government requiring it to block over 8,000 accounts in India, subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment of the company’s local employees, a statement by its Global Government Affairs said. The orders include demands to block access in India to accounts belonging to international news organisations and prominent X users.
On May 7, India’s Embassy in China had rebuked the Chinese media outlet Global Times for reporting that Pakistan’s military shot down an Indian fighter jet and advised verifying facts and sources before publishing such reports.
“Dear @globaltimesnews, we would recommend you verify your facts and cross-examine your sources before pushing out this kind of disinformation,” the Embassy of India in Beijing, China, said on X.
Published – May 14, 2025 12:30 pm IST
