The Twitter website yesterday displayed a distorted map of India showing Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh as separate countries drawing sharp criticism from various quarters. Criticisms are growing as this is not the first time Twitter has displayed the wrong map of India on its website. Last year it showed Leh as part of China.
The error appears on the Twitter website under the header ‘tweet life’. Twitter has also lost its legal protection as an intermediary in India becoming editorially liable for unlawful content posted by any user on its microblogging platform. However, the map was removed on late Monday evening following large social media outrage. Twitter India Managing Director Manish Maheshwari has been booked under section 505 of IPC and section 74 of IT Act 2008 for showing a wrong map of India on its website on receiving a complaint from a Bajrang Dal leader.
‘Twitter ban’- an outrage against Twitter has been trending on Twitter lately. Meanwhile, Ghaziabad police filed a petition in Supreme Court against Twitter India and challenged the decision of the Karnataka High Court. The Karnataka High Court has directed the Ghaziabad Police not to take any strict actions against the MD of Twitter.
Sources say that even google has pointed out the wrong map of India. The large-scale outrage comes as the Indian map is widely available on all platforms online and then why does a tech giant behave in this manner.
Cyber Security Expert, Dinesh Bareja speaks to NewsX on the matter. He said, “ I’m quite amused with the big noise on Twitter and the map. I am outraged. Absolutely. And the same thing happened before. There were serving officers, Intelligence officers who did not even raise their voices. I was the only guy at the conference who dared to stand up to take it right off. Everybody came and told me no, let’s not do it here”
He adds that the situation is prevalent across platforms, be it google, amazon or Twitter. Moreover, he pointed out the lack of proper laws to punish those who portray India differently.
“Many have asked me when I raise my voice against this- why you are wasting time. I waste my time because I love my country,” said Dinesh.
