New Delhi: The website of ‘The Wire’, a leading online news portal, has been blocked by the central government, according to a statement by the portal on Friday. The website has been blocked nationwide under the IT Act, 2000, as per the orders of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, the portal said in the statement on X. It expressed its dissent over censorship and informed that it is taking necessary steps to challenge this move.
The Wire pointed out that the ban on the website is a clear violation of the freedom of the press guaranteed by the Constitution. The move by the Centre was unilateral and inexplicable, and it will take all necessary steps to challenge censorship, the portal said. It will not back down from providing honest and accurate news, and it is said that it protests censorship of the portal, which is one of India’s greatest assets: honest, fair, and rational news. Saying that it was with the readers’ support, the portal has been running for the past ten years, it appealed to them to stand with the portal’s cause, The Wire said in its statement.
The other day, ‘X’ had stated that the central government had ordered the suspension of around 8,000 accounts, including those of various media outlets. The said X handles, including Maktoob Media, The Kashmiriyat, and Free Press Kashmir, were frozen amid escalating tensions between India and Pakistan.
The Wire statement read, “Dear readers of The Wire, in a clear violation of the Constitutional guarantee of freedom of the press, the Government of India has blocked access to the Wire.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,” the statement said.
“Your support has kept our work going for the past 10 years and we are are counting on all of us standing together at this time. We will not be deterred from providing truthful and accurate news to all our readers,” the statement read.
However, by 5:00 pm on Friday, a Madhyamam English correspondent was able to access The Wire site.