Twitter tenders apology before joint parliamentary committee for showing Leh, J&K in China

Microblogging site Twitter on Thursday, October 29, tendered a verbal apology before India's joint parliamentary committee on personal data protection, days after its location tag in a live broadcast showed Leh and Jammu and Kashmir as part of China.

Displaying strong displeasure over the geotagging issue the panel had asked Twitter to tender a written apology and submit an affidavit in the matter.  The apology comes a day after the joint parliamentary committee on Data Protection Bill came down heavily on Twitter saying what it had done had amounted to treason. 

On October 22, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had written a letter to Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey reminding him that Leh is the headquarter of Ladakh and that both Ladakh and Jammu and Kashmir are 'integral and inalienable parts of India, governed by the Constitution of India'. Secretary of MeitY, Ajay Sawhney, in his letter, asked the micro-blogging site to respect the sensitivities of Indian citizens and warned that the attempt to disrespect the sovereignty and integrity of India, which is also reflected by the maps, is totally unacceptable and unlawful. He further raised questions about Twitter's neutrality and fairness as an intermediary.

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Acknowledging the letter, a Twitter spokesperson said they remain committed to working with the Government of India and that they respect the sensitivities involved. 

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Twitter displays J&K as part of China

On October 18, Twitter came under scrutiny for displaying Jammu-Kashmir's Leh as a part of 'People's Republic of China'. National Security Analyst Nitin Gokhale who was live on Twitter near Leh airport, noticed that his location was displaying as 'Jammu and Kashmir, People's Republic of China'. This anomaly was raised by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) chairman Kanchan Gupta to Twitter India, stating that it was not an 'isolated incident', but that several netizens who were logging online faced the same issue.

Taking to Twitter, Gokhale had narrated, "This morning, I was live on Twitter along with Rohit Pandita to apprise people of my journey to Ladakh from Himachal Pradesh via a new road. After we finished our broadcast, to our horror, we found that the location we had put of our location of the War Memorial, Hall of Fame - a famous landmark in Leh came as Jammu and Kashmir, the People's Republic of China. I apprised Twitter by tagging them, expecting them to take action, but except for anger from people of India, nothing happened."

He added, "We tried again by doing an experimental live with a different broadcast, but again the same results came up. Even now if you go live in areas near Leh airport, Leh's Hall of fame, it shows as 'J&K, People's Republic of China'. I do not know why this is happening, but it is my duty to inform you about it."

Twitter's spokesperson then issued a statement on the same saying that they were aware of the sensitivities around the issue of Kashmir. The statement also asserted that teams are investigating to resolve the concerned geo-tagging issue. "We became aware of this technical issue on Sunday, & understand & respect the sensitivities around it. Teams have worked swiftly to investigate & resolve the concerned geotag issue." 

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(With ANI inputs)