India restores X account of China's Global Times

The X account of Chinese media house Global Times has been restored in India after having been blocked briefly on Wednesday. The X handles of Global Times and Xinhua were blocked in response to a legal request.

While Global Times has was visible since evening on Wednesday, Xinhua remains to be blocked. The exact time of unblocking the Global Times account could not be ascertained.



During the recent military conflict with Pakistan, the Indian government on May 8 ordered to block around 8,000 accounts on X, including those belonging to some media houses in "unfriendly" countries.

Government sources told PTI that a few issues had been flagged to the blocked accounts and that it would be restored once the concerns are addressed.


The sources, however, did not elaborate on the conditions put in place by the government for unblocking the Global Times account.

This comes days after the Indian Embassy in China strongly cautioned the media outlet to verify facts before posting on social media.

“Dear Global Timesnews, we would recommend you verify your facts and cross-examine your sources before pushing out this kind of disinformation,” the Embassy said in a post on X, responding to the tabloid's coverage of Indian military strikes allegedly targeting Pakistan’s terror infrastructure during Operation Sindoor.

In a follow-up post, the Embassy added, “Several pro-Pakistan handles are spreading baseless claims in the context of #OperationSindoor, attempting to mislead the public. When media outlets share such information without verifying sources, it reflects a serious lapse in responsibility and journalistic ethics.”

The Embassy’s remarks came after viral posts from Pakistani accounts and some media suggested that an Indian Rafale jet had been shot down near Bahawalpur.

PIB Fact Check team, however, flagged one such viral image as misleading, noting it was from a 2021 crash involving a MiG-21 in Punjab’s Moga district. “Beware of old images shared by pro-Pakistan handles in the present context,” the PIB warned in its own post.