The Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has blocked access to The Wire under the IT Act, 2000. US citizen Siddharth Varadarajan serves as the Founding Editor at The Wire. He revealed the matter in a tweet on Friday.
The Wire said in a statement, “In a clear violation of the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press, the Government of India has blocked access to thewire.in across India. Internet Service Providers say The Wire has been “blocked as per the order of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under the IT Act, 2000.””
“We protest this blatant censorship at a critical time for India when sane, truthful, fair and rational voices and sources of news and information are among the biggest assets that India has. We are taking all necessary steps to challenge this arbitrary and inexplicable move,” it added.
Did the Indian Govt really block access to The Wire?
However, some users have accused Varadarajan of lying in the statement. They asserted that they are still able to access the website in India.
Lies. You claim to be truthful? I am able to access it now. I can even see the BCCI article which was uploaded just 30 odd mins ago. pic.twitter.com/EUNF8Xa3lX
— Ajay Rotti (@ajayrotti) May 9, 2025
Others confirmed the veracity of Varadarajan’s statement. One user pointed out that it is likely that some internet service provider’s are yet to implement the Government Order. When ForPol tried to access thewire.in, we were unable to do so through Jio Internet. However, it was accessible through a local broadband internet provider.
Several X accounts have been withheld in India amid the tensions with Pakistan. Apart from numerous Pakistani accounts, the X account of Maktoob Media, a prominent Islamist propaganda media outlet, has been withheld as well in India. X’s Global Government Affairs department revealed that they have received requests from the Indian Govt to block over 8,000 accounts in India.
