Hours after courting controversy by displaying a distorted map of India, showing Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh as a separate country, Twitter dropped the incorrect map from its website.
The map, which appeared on the career section of the micro-blogging platform, showed Jammu-Kashmir and Ladakh detached from the country.
This is, however, not the first time that Twitter has shown a distorted map of India. The Centre had last year written to Twitter CEO, conveying its strong disapproval over the misrepresentation of the map of India after Twitter showed the geo-location of Leh in Jammu and Kashmir, People's Republic of China.
In a warning, the government said any attempt by Twitter to disrespect India's “sovereignty and integrity is totally unacceptable”.
The incorrect map triggered a heavy backlash from netizens who demanded strict action against the microblogging platform.
Twitter vs Centre: What and why?
Twitter and the government have been at loggerheads over multiple instances in the past months, including during the farmers' protest and later when the microblogging platform tagged political posts of several leaders of the ruling party BJP as “manipulated media”, triggering a sharp rebuke from the Centre.
Most recently, the US digital giant has been engaged in a tussle with the Indian government over the new social media rules. Twitter has drawn flak for failure to fully comply with the new IT rules, which mandates among other requirements, the appointment of three key personnel – chief compliance officer, nodal officer and grievance officer by social media platforms with over 50 lakh users.
The government has slammed Twitter for deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the new IT rules, which has led to the microblogging platform losing its legal shield as an intermediary in India, and becoming liable for users posting any unlawful content.
Twitter failed to comply with intermediary guidelines and “deliberately” chose the path of non-compliance despite being granted multiple opportunities, IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had said.
On Sunday, Twitter appointed California-based Jeremy Kessel as the new grievance officer for India, a day after Dharmendra Chatur stepped down.
The appointment of California-based Hermy Kessel, however, is not in line with new IT rules. The new IT guidelines mandate that all nodal officials, including the grievance redressal officer, should be based out of India.
