Twitter on Monday enraged thousands of users in its largest market, India, after the American microblogging and social networking platform blocked about 250 accounts, including those belonging to associations, activists and local leaders associated with the ongoing farmers' protest, reportedly at the federal government's request.

An Indian IT ministry source was quoted by news agency AFP as saying the government had directed the social media giant to act against the Twitter accounts and tweets under the pretext that they posed "grave threat to public order."

A Twitter spokeswoman said "it may be necessary to withhold access to certain content in a particular country from time to time" if "a properly scoped" request is made.

The accounts were blocked on Monday afternoon but were restored hours later following a massive uproar by Indian users who derided Twitter for following double standards in their approach towards India in contrast with the U.S. or EU.

Tens of thousands of farmers have been protesting since November 26 on the outskirts of New Delhi against new farming laws, which they claim are unfair and exploitative.

The largely peaceful protest turned into a deadly rampage last week when a faction of the rally overwhelmed the police and stormed into the historic Red Fort complex in New Delhi on India's Republic Day. One protester was killed and about 86 police officers were injured in the scuffle.

Farmers' leaders representing the majority of the protest movement have condemned the violence and distanced themselves from the fringe group that stormed the Red Fort but they have not backed down from the protests.

Since the violence, police have detained dozens of farmers, pro-farmer activists and a journalist associated with the Caravan magazine.

Caravan's Twitter account was among those that were blocked. Others included farmer activists and unions, a few opposition leaders, an actor and an economist.

One thing many of the accounts appeared to have in common was that most had shared content that criticized the federal government led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi also targeting his Hindu-nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) over their hostility to the farmers' protest. Some of the blocked accounts had also reportedly used the false hashtag #ModiPlanningFarmerGenocide.

A spokesman for the farmers said their accounts "had not done anything wrong" apart from supporting the long-running protests.

The executive editor of Caravan, Vinod K. Jose, said the blocking of their account was the "latest in a long list of targeted attacks" by authorities against the publication over their reporting.

Global media watchdog Reporters Without Borders slammed the suspensions, which it called a "shocking case of blatant censorship."

"By ordering these blockings, the Home Affairs Ministry is behaving like an Orwellian Ministry of Truth who wants to impose its own narrative about the farmers' protests," the group said.

After the blockages drew widespread condemnation online, Twitter said it had unblocked all the accounts late on Monday. According to Twitter, company representatives had met with Indian government officials to convey that the tweets constituted free speech and are newsworthy.