On Tuesday, Twitter in India banned the official accounts of Pakistan Embassies in UN, Turkey, Iran and Egypt.
Earlier, Twitter also withheld the account of the national public broadcaster in Pakistan - Radio Pakistan.
After Twitter withheld these official accounts, the Pakistani Ministry of Foreign Affairs urged Twitter to restore these accounts with immediate access.
The development came at a time when the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting earlier blocked 16 YouTube news channels, including 6 Pakistan-based channels, for spreading disinformation related to India's national security, foreign relations, and public order.
According to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting, YouTube channels were "spreading false, unverified information to create panic, incite communal disharmony, and disturb public order in India."
None of the digital news publishers had furnished information to the Ministry as required under rule 18 of the IT Rules, 2021, the government said.
YouTube channels based in Pakistan were found to have been used in a coordinated manner to post fake news about India on various subjects such as the Indian Army, Jammu, and Kashmir, and India's foreign relations in the light of the situation in Ukraine among others, it said.
The content of these channels was observed to be completely false, according to the govenment, and sensitive from the perspective of national security, sovereignty, and integrity of India, and India's friendly relations with foreign States.
New Delhi also cracks down on domestic dissent on Twitter
The BJP-led government in New Delhi has increasingly cracked down on voices critical of the government across online platforms, and Twitter in particular, claiming that such voices were spreading "fake news" with the intent to disrupt communal harmony.
On Monday, Alt News co-founder Mohammed Zubair was remanded to one-day police custody. His counsel had moved a bail application which was declined by the court on grounds of "not finding merits."
Zubair was arrested by the Delhi Police for allegedly hurting religious sentiments through one of his tweets.
He has been booked under sections 153A (promotion of enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language) and 295A (Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Opposition leaders, including former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi, slammed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his government over Zubair's arrest.
Prior to that, journalist Rana Ayyub has posted a notice from Twitter which informed her that the microblogging site has withheld her account in India under Information Technology Act, 2000.
Ayyub on Sunday took to her Twitter account to post the notice and asked: "Hello @Twitter, what exactly is this?"
The notice from Twitter that Ayyub shared read: "In order to comply with Twitter's obligations under India's local laws, we have withheld the following account in India under the country's Information Technology Act, 2000: the content remains available elsewhere."
According to Twitter, an account withheld message means that the microblogging site "was compelled to withhold the entire account specified (e.g., @username) in response to a valid legal demand, such as a court order."
This came as the Enforcement Directorate attached Rs 1.77 crore of Ayyub in a money laundering case, in February.
