NEW DELHI, Nov 12: After once making a mistake of showing Leh as part of China, the popular conversation social media Twitter has again erred by showing Leh as part of Jammu and Kashmir and not a separate union territory of Ladakh forcing the central government to issue it a stern notice.
The ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has issued the notice to Twitter seeking explanation in five days as to why legal action should not be taken against the social media platform for disrespecting India’s territorial integrity as Twitter has shown Leh as part of J&K, not Ladakh.
Ministry in its notice sent to global Vice President of Twitter has mentioned that showing Leh as part of Jammu and Kashmir was a deliberate attempt by Twitter to undermine the will of sovereign Parliament of India which had declared Ladakh as a Union Territory of India with its headquarter in Leh.
A Twitter spokesperson said they have responded to the letter and shared a comprehensive update with the government. “Twitter remains committed to partnering with the Government of India and the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to serve the public conversation. We have duly responded to the letter and, as part of our correspondence, shared a comprehensive update with the latest developments regarding the geo-tag issue,” the spokesperson said.
This goof-up adds to series of mistakes that Twitter has recently done in geo-tagging. Earlier, Twitter had shown Leh as part of China after which secretary, Ministry of Electronics & IT had written to Twitter CEO raising an objection. In response, Twitter had rectified the error. But it has not yet corrected the map to show Leh as part of Union Territory of Ladakh, the ministry said.
Recently, a parliamentary committee reviewing India’s privacy bill had observed that Twitter’s explanation on showing Ladakh as part of China was “inadequate.” The act accounts to a criminal offence with an imprisonment up to seven years.
(Manas Dasgupta)
