India on Wednesday blocked the X accounts of Chinese state-run news outlets Global Times and Xinhua and Turkish public broadcaster TRT World.

Their accounts were blocked in response to legal demands by the Indian government, the social media platform said.

Global Times is an English-language newspaper affiliated to the People’s Daily, which is owned by the Chinese Communist Party. Xinhua is China’s state-run news agency.

TRT World is a TV channel operated by the Turkish Radio and Television Corporation, the country’s public broadcaster.

It was unclear what had led to the news outlets being blocked.

On May 7, hours after India launched Operation Sindoor, the Indian embassy in Beijing had fact-checked a post by the Global Times, calling it “baseless”.

“Several pro-Pakistan handles are spreading baseless claims in the context of Operation Sindoor, attempting to mislead the public,” the embassy had said. “When media outlets share such information without verifying sources, it reflects a serious lapse in responsibility and journalistic ethics.”

Tensions between India and Pakistan escalated on May 7 when the Indian military carried out strikes – codenamed Operation Sindoor – on what it claimed were terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.

The strikes were in response to the terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam, which killed 26 persons on April 22.

The Pakistan Army retaliated to Indian strikes by repeatedly shelling Indian villages along the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir. At least 22 Indian civilians and eight defence personnel were killed.

India rejects China’s renaming of places in Arunachal Pradesh

India on Wednesday rejected fresh attempts by Beijing to rename places in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Ministry of External Affairs said that “preposterous” attempts do not change the “undeniable” reality that the North East state “was, is and will” remain an integral part of India.

In April 2024, India had objected when Beijing issued a list of standardised names for 30 locations in Arunachal Pradesh.

The Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs had released the first list of standardised names for six places in Arunachal Pradesh in 2017, followed by a second list of 15 places in 2021 and a third list naming 11 places in 2023, The Hindu reported.

Beijing lays territorial claims over a large portion of Arunachal Pradesh, claiming that it is “South Tibet”. India has rejected these claims.