With military tensions high and amid ongoing cross-border shelling and drone activities between India and Pakistan, the Indian government has ordered the blocking of 8,000 accounts on X and the removal of Pakistan-linked content across digital platforms.

Press freedom activists have condemned the move.

The Pakistani army responded with drone and artillery attacks after the Indian army claimed to have attacked nine locations in Pakistan and Pakistan-controlled Kashmir on Wednesday, killing what they said were numerous militants.

Accounts blocked under government order

The Indian government also ordered the social media platform X to block over 8,000 accounts, including those of prominent Pakistani journalists like Hamid Mir and Najam Sethi, news organizations and even some Indian news portals like Maktoob Media, The Kashmiriyat and The Wire.

On Thursday, the country's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting also issued an advisory directing online streaming platforms to immediately remove all Pakistani-origin content, including web series, films, songs and podcasts, citing national security.

The Elon Musk-owned X has said it received executive orders from the Indian government requiring the company to block more than 8,000 accounts in India.

"To comply with the orders, we will withhold the specified accounts in India alone. We have begun that process. However, we disagree with the Indian government's demands," the company said in a post on its Global Government Affairs handle.

"In most cases, the Indian government has not specified which posts from an account have violated India's local laws," the company statement continued. "For a significant number of accounts, we did not receive any evidence or justification to block the accounts."

X also pointed out that falling foul of the executive orders could subject the company to potential penalties, including significant fines and imprisonment of its local employees.

Free speech advocates see the move by the Indian government as censorship, especially at a time when both sides have been engaged in competing narratives that have historically obscured the truth in India-Pakistan conflicts.

"At this crucial period, India should refrain from illegally and arbitrarily blocking social media accounts and websites of journalists, news publications and citizens, nor take any other steps that can restrict the flow of information," Prateek Waghre, an independent technology policy researcher, told DW.

"Such restrictions create a fertile ground for confusion and false narratives to take root, as they also limit access to reliable information and reportage," added Waghre.

Pratik Sinha, founder of fact-checking website Alt News, dedicated to combating misinformation and disinformation, criticized the government for clamping down on the media and independent voices in the name of national security.

"Authorities have never liked any form of independent media as it construes it as speaking against the government or country. This is censorship," Sinha told DW.

Clampdown on online information

The annual South Asia Press Freedom Report, entitled "Frontline Democracy: Media Amid Political Churn," released early this month, presents a stark assessment of press freedom in India, highlighting persistent and deepening challenges for journalists and media organizations.

Despite India's slight rise in the World Press Freedom Index, moving up to 151 out of 180 countries in 2025, the report underscores that core issues threatening press freedom remain unresolved.

"Every authoritarian effort is being made to crush those who seek to hold power to account — crackdowns on media houses, surveillance, intimidation and harassment of journalists, filing of police cases; arbitrary detentions; and the unleashing of raids by the Income Tax Department, and the Enforcement Directorate that oversees financial crimes," the report stated.

Another report, by the Free Speech Collective, highlights how the first four months of 2025 have not boded well for freedom of speech and expression in India.

"Censorship was rife, through direct and indirect attacks on free speech and press freedom," the report said.

"Any content-specific takedowns must proceed under clear legal grounds, publish the legal rationale so they can withstand constitutional scrutiny and establish an independent oversight mechanism for future national-security content actions," Apar Gupta, of the Internet Freedom Foundation, told DW.

The website of The Wire, a news organization known for its investigative journalism and its outspokenness, became inaccessible across much of the country on Friday.

The platform said the move was based on orders from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, under the IT Act of 2000 and said it would take legal steps to challenge it.

The Wire's ombudsperson Pamela Philipose told DW that at a time when hostilities at the borders are raging and citizens across the country are anxious to get authentic, misinformation-free news, this move to block it is extremely disturbing.

"The news portal always took to provide the public with a truthful account of all developments in a manner that was both readable and credible," said Philipose. "We can only hope that this is only a passing blip and it will soon be back to doing what it does best — bringing authentic news and information to the Indian and international public."

Controlling the narrative

A government spokesperson refused to comment on the actions, but the motivations appear to blend genuine security concerns with a desire to control narratives.

But free-speech activists and media commentators believe the space for hard-hitting journalism, dissent and debate has rapidly shrunk in India's mainstream media.

Amrita Johri, a right-to-information activist who has worked on the issue closely, said the Digital Personal Data Protection Act of 2023, due to be put into effect soon, will undermine press freedom, investigative journalism and the public's right to information.

Activists have said the new measure also amends the Right to Information Act and provides a blanket exemption on the disclosure of personal information which will severely weaken people's ability to seek crucial information and demand accountability from the government.

"It will have a chilling impact on all those who collect, process and disseminate personal information including journalists, media, civil society and even political parties," Johri told DW.

"While curbs on fake news and misinformation are needed, regulations must be within the constitutional framework and subject to oversight by an independent mechanism," she added.

Edited by: Ben Knight