Highlights:
- The world map, which grossly distorted India’s borders, was taken down by Twitter on Monday evening.
- In India, there are an estimated 1.75 crore Twitter users.
- The uproar comes amid heated standoff between the Indian government and Twitter over new IT regulations.
After receiving backlash for displaying an inaccurate map of India that depicted Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh as independent countries, Twitter has now removed the incorrect map.
The blatant error, which featured on Twitter’s career section under the heading “Tweep Life,” sparked a massive response from netizens on Monday, who sought strong action against the microblogging company, which has already broken a number of rules.
With nearly 17,000 posts, the hashtag #TwitterBan was trending on Twitter.
This isn’t the first time Twitter has mistakenly depicted India’s map. It had previously depicted Leh as a Chinese territory.
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Following widespread anger on social media, Twitter took down the world map, which grossly distorted India’s borders.
According to sources, the government is looking into the situation. Because the incorrect depiction is on Twitter’s website, the case is not that of a “intermediary,” but rather that of a publisher who is in charge of content.
They stated that when something is clearly wrong, it must be addressed or else serious action will be taken.
Twitter, which has an estimated 1.75 million users in India, has remained silent throughout the process. The company did not respond to emails made to them.
The Indian government and the US digital behemoth have been at odds over new social media rules. Despite repeated reminders, the government has challenged Twitter over its willful defiance and failure to comply with the country’s new IT rules.
In India, the microblogging platform has lost its legal shield as a middleman, making users accountable for any illegal content they post.
After its geotagging feature displayed “Jammu & Kashmir, People’s Republic of China” in a live broadcast from Leh’s Hall of Fame, a military memorial for fallen soldiers in the Union Territory of Ladakh, Twitter came under fire and faced outrage in October last year.
At that time, India had issued a strong warning to Twitter, stating clearly that any disrespect of the country’s sovereignty and integrity is completely unacceptable.
In November, Twitter incorrectly labelled Leh as part of Jammu and Kashmir rather than the Union Territory of Ladakh, prompting the Indian government to issue a warning to the US-based firm for undermining India’s territorial integrity by displaying an erroneous map.
Because Twitter has not complied with the new IT standards, known as intermediate guidelines, which mandate setting up a comprehensive grievance redressal procedure and hiring officers to coordinate with law enforcement, the site has come under fire from the government.
The rules came into effect on May 26, and because Twitter did not designate the required officials after the additional time expiry, it lost its “safe harbour” status.
Despite the fact that relations with the Indian government are at an all-time low, Twitter temporarily blocked IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad from accessing his account on Friday due to an alleged violation of US copyright law, a move that the minister immediately slammed as arbitrary and in serious breach of IT rules.
Meanwhile, Dharmendra Chatur, Twitter’s temporary grievance officer for India, has resigned just weeks after taking over the critical position.
California-based Jeremy Kessel has been named as India’s grievance redressal officer on the platform’s website, despite the fact that his appointment does not meet with new IT laws requiring key officers, including the grievance officer, to be resident of India.
In recent months, Twitter and the government have clashed on a number of issues, including during the farmers’ protest and later when the microblogging platform labelled political remarks by many members of the ruling party BJP as “manipulated media,” prompting a stern condemnation from the government.
Other significant flashpoints included the platform’s “discriminatory” practises in dealing with fake and harmful content targeted towards India, as well as no action being done against a strain of coronavirus known as the “Indian variant.”
The Minister of Information Technology has previously stated that it is “astonishing” that Twitter, which portrays itself as the champion of free speech, takes the road of purposeful defiance when it comes to the intermediary rules.
Twitter has been criticized by the ministry on several times for attempting to impose its will on the world’s largest democracy.
The IT Ministry has previously remarked, “Twitter ought to quit beating around the bush and comply with the rules of the land.”
