The ban on Global Times and TRT World was lifted within hours after India blocked their X (formerly Twitter) accounts. However, Xinhua’s X handle remains withheld. These accounts were part of a broader crackdown.

The ban on TRT World’s X account was imposed after the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) noted Turkey’s assistance to Pakistan during Operation Sindoor, which India launched in retaliation for the Pahalgam terror attack. However, the TRT website and Instagram handle remain accessible.

It also comes amid Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s “Long live Pakistan-Turkey friendship!” post.

ALSO READ

The ban on China’s Global Times comes after the Indian Embassy in China fact-checked the outlet’s report that Pakistan has “shot down another Indian fighter jet in response to overnight airstrikes carried out by India at multiple locations in Pakistan.” The report cited sources from the Pakistani military.

ALSO READ

“This is the third Indian fighter jet that has been shot down in response to the overnight strikes, said the military sources: Xinhua,” Global Times had said. Xinhua has also been blocked in India.

Responding to this, the Embassy of India in Beijing said, “Dear Global Times, we would recommend you verify your facts and cross-examine your sources before pushing out this kind of disinformation.”

This development also comes after Beijing announced Chinese names for some places in Arunachal Pradesh, which the neighbouring country claims as the southern part of Tibet, which India has outrightly rejected as “vain and preposterous”. 

India maintained that such attempts will not alter the “undeniable” reality that the state “was, is, and will” always remain an integral part of India.

“We have noticed that China has persisted with its vain and preposterous attempts to name places in the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh. Consistent with our principled position, we reject such attempts categorically,” External Affairs Ministry Spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

Global Times is an English-language tabloid of the Chinese Communist Party’s People’s Daily, while Xinhua is a state-run news agency.