X is facing new challenges in both India and its neighbor Pakistan. The Indian Government is demanding X censor particular accounts to stem the unrest. Pakistani officials are reportedly blocking access to X altogether following accusations of vote rigging in its recent election.

First, India. According to X, the Indian Government has put a new order for X to ban the users identified by it which prompted civil disobedience.

According to X:

The Indian government has issued executive orders demanding X to act on some accounts and posts, susceptible to penalties that include fines of significant amounts and imprisonment. In obedience to the said orders, we will withhold the said accounts and posts only in India; however, we disagree with these actions, and freedom of expression must extend to these posts.

X says it is moving to comply with the orders but will also continue to challenge the Indian Government's bans through whatever legal means it has available.

This isn't the first time that the Indian Government has called for specific censorship of the platform, and both X and the previous management of Twitter have been asked to remove specific comments and users who've contravened official rulings.

Last year, X had to pull a BBC documentary critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi after it was banned in the country. Many cited that as an example of the company's inability to stand behind its own free speech principle.

Meanwhile, Twitter has received a notice of non-compliance in 2021 for its refusal to take action on similar demands made by the Indian Government regarding account takedown. For this instance that directly relates to civil unrest, India had threatened to shut down the whole of Twitter in return while also threatening the staff in India that the company had, with jail time reaching up to seven years due to failure to comply.

As such, Twitter was goaded into action by India's demands, to protect its staff (note: the Indian Government has denied that such threats were made).

Both incidents remind one of the authoritarian regimes that will go to any lengths to take control of mass communication platforms, like Twitter and X, in order to manage messaging and combat noncompliance.

Pakistan, too, has a long history of seeking control over social spaces, though more prominently on account of "inappropriate content", as opposed to what users are saying. But, Pakistan is a Muslim country and has, at different times, banned several apps over content concerns, though in this latest instance, does seem to be taking a page out of India's book by using bans to quell civil unrest. X will now have to find a way to balance such requests with its "free speech" ethos though X owner Elon Musk has been clear from the start that his free speech push won't go beyond the bounds of local laws in every region.

So even though Twitter has resisted some of the requests of India before, and X said it would continue seeking legal clarifications in the same, it would comply with the asks of the Indian government, and remove users and contents according to their demands.
 
Is that to say that X does not want to stand its ground on its much talked about open speech policy?

No, not when the alternative is to see X banned entirely, which would eliminate all speech for the impacted individuals and reduce all protests against government action.

And no matter your opinion about X may be, it remains a very influential platform in ways, that's why officials are still looking to control the discussion on the app.

Though the bigger for question for Elon is how such actions can affect his other businesses.

Tesla is still trying to enter the emerging Indian market and could be a massive source of sales for the company. Tesla has been working with the Indian Government in new concessions on import duties, in order to bring its vehicles to market, and it'd be interesting to know whether Indian officials used such as a lever to pressure action at X.

Based on what we know, it does seem like X would have little choice either way, but it's another consideration in this instance that could cause some uncomfortable internal discussions around the same.