Blocked without notice, The Wire removes article under protest to restore access

The Wire, a leading independent news portal, has accused the Indian government of unconstitutionally blocking its website without prior notice, after the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) claimed that a specific article had triggered the action, although the story in question was based on widely available international reports.

The website thewire.in became inaccessible across India more than 12 hours before the Ministry formally responded to The Wire’s query regarding the reason for the block, and the news platform stated that it had written to both the MIB and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY) seeking an explanation, yet received a reply only at 9:41 pm on May 9.

According to the ministry, the domain was blocked because of a story published at https://m.thewire.in/article/security/cnn-french-official-iaf-rafale-downed-by-pakistan, which allegedly violated certain regulations, and the blocking was attributed to a technical limitation whereby only full domains of https websites could be restricted, not individual pages.

Although the MIB letter stated that The Wire would be given an opportunity to submit its comments or clarifications before an Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) constituted under the IT Rules of 2021, the blocking was enforced before such a hearing could take place, leading The Wire’s founding editor Siddharth Varadarajan to argue that this action bypassed the procedures laid out under Indian law.

Varadarajan emphasised in a written reply at 10:40 pm on May 9 that, even under emergency powers, the government should have first issued a notice to the news portal, thereby allowing it to respond before taking the extreme step of blocking the entire website.

The disputed story, which was published at 3:47 am on May 8, referred to information previously published by CNN regarding claims made by Pakistan that a Rafale aircraft of the Indian Air Force had been downed, and The Wire underlined that the CNN report, and other similar international media coverage, remained accessible in India without any disruption. Despite this, The Wire’s article alone appeared to prompt the blocking order, which the editors viewed as selective and arbitrary.

In compliance with the government’s demand—despite calling it unfair and a violation of press freedom—The Wire confirmed that it had removed the article from public view and informed the MIB accordingly, with the aim of having its site restored for readers across India. The ministry subsequently conveyed that it had instructed Internet Service Providers to unblock the domain; however, more than 12 hours later, access to the site continued to be restricted on several networks.

The Wire has said it will present its position before the IDC today, where it will challenge both the takedown request against the individual article and the wholesale blocking of its website.

Reaffirming its commitment to accurate journalism and democratic values, the platform expressed concern that its site was penalised in a manner that larger international outlets were not, and called for adherence to constitutional protections of press freedom.