Social media platform X on Thursday said it has started more than 8,000 accounts in India after receiving orders from the Union government.

This comes amid with Pakistan after the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam on April 22.

In a statement, X’s Global Government Affairs unit said that the platform had received orders from the Indian government requiring it to block the accounts, “subject to potential penalties including significant fines and imprisonment of the company's local employees”.

The orders included demands to block access in India to accounts belonging to international news organisations and prominent X users, the statement added.

“In most cases, the Indian government has not specified which posts from an account have violated India’s local laws,” it said. “For a significant number of accounts, we did not receive any evidence or justification to block the accounts.”

The billionaire Elon Musk-led social media platform said that it would withhold the specified accounts in India alone to comply with the orders.

“However, we disagree with the Indian government’s demands,” the platform said. “Blocking entire accounts is not only unnecessary, it amounts to censorship of existing and future content, and is contrary to the fundamental right of free speech.”

It added: “This is not an easy decision, however keeping the platform accessible...