Several accounts on social media platform X, some of whom are viewed as being critical of the Union government, have been withheld in India since Wednesday.

On their profiles, the platform said that they had been withheld in the country in response to a legal demand.

It was unclear why the accounts had been blocked.

The handles include parody accounts @DrNimoYadav, @Nehr_who, @indian_armada, and popular profiles such as @mrjethwani_ and @Doc_RGM. The account of journalist and activist Sandeep Singh was also withheld.

Hartosh Singh Bal, the editor of The Caravan, said that a March 14 tweet by the magazine that promoted a 2022 article had also been blocked.

The tweet had also featured the cover of the April 2002 issue of the India Today magazine, which had Narendra Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat at the time, on it. The headline on that cover read “Hero of Hatred”.

Bal said that X had received a blocking order from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology under Section 69A of Information Technology Act.

Under Section 69A of the Act, an authorised personnel in the Union government, not below the rank of a joint secretary, can send content removal orders to social media platforms. The provision allows the Union government to issue content-blocking orders to online intermediaries if the content is deemed...

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