India blocks Chinese state media outlets Global Times and Xinhua News Agency on X for spreading fake news and disinformation during Operation Sindoor.
In a significant diplomatic and digital crackdown, the Indian government on Wednesday blocked the official X (formerly Twitter) accounts of China’s state-run media outlets Global Times and Xinhua News Agency over repeated dissemination of disinformation, fake news, and propaganda targeting India—particularly amid the recent military conflict with Pakistan.
This is the second major action taken by Indian authorities against Chinese Communist Party (CCP)-linked media in less than a week, following the earlier suspension of Global Times' access in India. Both outlets were found to be amplifying false and inflammatory narratives during and after India’s precision strikes on terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) under Operation Sindoor.
Strong Rebuttal from Indian Embassy in Beijing
Wednesday's move to block China's Global Times and Xinhua New Agency's X accounts came days after the Indian Embassy in Beijing issued a strong caution to the publication, urging it to upload journalistic ethics and verify facts.
"Dear @globaltimesnews, we would recommend you verify your facts and cross-examine your sources before pushing out this kind of dis-information,” the embassy had posted in a series of post on May 7 following India's retaliation strikes after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack.
"Several pro-Pakistan handles are spreading baseless claims in the context of #OperationSindoor. When media outlets share such information without verifying sources, it reflects a serious lapse in responsibility and journalistic ethics,” it had further stated.
The Indian government’s PIB Fact Check unit also had earlier flagged multiple instances of misinformation being circulated using doctored visuals. Among these were images of MiG-29 and MiG-21 aircraft that had crashed in Rajasthan in 2024 and Punjab in 2021, respectively, but were being circulated as recent incidents linked to Operation Sindoor.
“Allow us to bring to your knowledge facts of the issue. On April 22, 2025, Pakistani and Pakistan-trained terrorists belonging to the Lashkar-e-Taiba carried out a savage terror attack on Indian tourists at Pahalgam in Jammu & Kashmir in India. They targeted a particular community by asking people to identify themselves by their religion and murdered 26 people, including one national of Nepal, causing the largest number of civilian casualties in a terrorist attack in India since the 26 November 2008 attacks in Mumbai,” the embassy had further posted.
The digital disinformation campaign followed the brutal terror attack in Pahalgam, Jammu & Kashmir, on April 22, where Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba militants killed 26 civilians, including one Nepali national. The attackers reportedly singled out victims based on religious identity and carried out point-blank executions in front of family members.
“The attack in Pahalgam was marked by extreme barbarity... Family members were deliberately traumatized through the manner of the killing, accompanied by the exhortation that they should take back the message,” the Indian Embassy’s post stated.