On August 15, Elon Musk distilled X’s latest policy shift in a single line: “Any censorship required by governments is now clearly visible.” Rather than quietly withholding a post under a local legal demand, X says it will tell users when a government sought the removal, name the agency, and, where possible, disclose the legal grounds.

Within days came the response from the establishment in India. On August 18, a senior Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) official told reporters that X “will have to comply with the Indian laws,” adding that orders issued under Section 69A are “intended to be maintained as confidential.”

The heart of the difficulty is Rule 16 of the Information Technology (Blocking) Rules, 2009, the operative framework under Section 69A, which mandates........

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