Twitter has been showing a distorted map of India on the career section on its website. The map that appears on the ‘Tweep Life’ section shows Jammu & Kashmir, and Ladakh detached from India. The distorted map was first noticed by user @/thvaranam.
Map of India on Twitter’s careers page.#MapOfIndia #TwitterIndia https://t.co/Xp4BbVHupr pic.twitter.com/k5qmpxt8i7
— acceleration (@thvaranam) June 28, 2021
Reaction from Netizens
The distorted map has attracted criticism from netizens. User deepakdkokha said, “@rsprasad is @Twitter new @PMOIndia Y such hesitancy in banning @Twitter what is the undertable dealing that @Twitter is becoming bold, anarchist day by day, humiliating ctzn of Hindusthsn & also altering demographic map.”
@rsprasad is @Twitter new @PMOIndia
— deepakdkokha🇮🇳 (@deepakdkokha) June 28, 2021
Y such hesitancy in banning @Twitter what is the undertable dealing that @Twitter is becoming bold, anarchist day by day, humiliating ctzn of Hindusthsn & also altering demographic map, humiliating the very Parliament, @PMOIndia does not care https://t.co/97G16jTXZF
Another user, Vivekmane343, said, “Twitter again showing their left face showing wrong map of India you are still waiting for an official apology from Twitter? Show them their place this time.”
@smritiirani @ianuragthakur @republic @KreatelyMedia @Tejasvi_Surya twitter again showing their left face showing wrong map of india your still waiting for official apologize from Twitter ? Show them their place this time. pic.twitter.com/mQPZJp8PX8
— Vivek (@Vivekmane343) June 28, 2021
Om Singh said, “Twitter shows this map on @TwitterCareers homepage .. see the map of India, JK and Ladakh has been fully cut.. This is done deliberately, and it cant be a mistake …”
@Twitter shows this map on @TwitterCareers homepage .. see the map of india, JK and Ladakh has been fully cut.. This is done deliberately and it cant be mistake … @rsprasad you are gonna tolerate this also?? Is @GoI_MeitY gonna take any big action for this repeat offender?? pic.twitter.com/N0AQ0NqE3a
— Om Singh (@OmSingh228v2) June 28, 2021
Twitter is a repeat offender
This is not the first time that the social media platform has shown the wrong map of India. In October 2020, national security analyst Nitin A Gokhale found that Twitter had labelled the Indian territory of Leh in Ladakh as part of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). Gokhale, the founder of Strat News Global, had marked his location as ‘Hall of Fame Leh’. However, the microblogging platform displayed the area as a part of PRC. The screengrab of the video read, “Nitin A Gokhale was live. Jammu and Kashmir, People’s Republic of China.”
The government of India issued a warning to CEO Jack Dorsey over the misrepresentation of the Indian map. Giving notice to Twitter, Secretary IT had said that such attempts not only bring disrepute to Twitter but also raises questions about its neutrality and fairness as an intermediary.
In recent times, Twitter is having a tussle with the Government of India over the new amendments in the IT law that makes it mandatory for the social media platforms to take steps to ensure complaints raised against the platforms are solved in the prescribed period. Conditions like the appointment of an interim grievance officer and other regulations have irked the social media giant. By not following the regulations, Twitter has already lost its legal protection against content posted on the platform.
