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 brocast showed Leh and Jammu and Kashmir as part of China.

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

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

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Ackwledging letter, a Twitter spokesperson said y remain committed to working with Government of India and that y respect 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, ticed that his location was displaying as 'Jammu and Kashmir, People's Republic of China'. This amaly was raised by Observer Research Foundation (ORF) chairman Kanchan Gupta to Twitter India, stating that it was t an 'isolated incident', but that several netizens who were logging online faced same issue.

Taking to Twitter, Gokhale h narrated, "This morning, I was live on Twitter along with Rohit Pandita to apprise people of my journey to Lakh from Himachal Presh via a new ro. After we finished our brocast, to our horror, we found that location we h put of our location of War Memorial, Hall of Fame - a famous landmark in Leh came as Jammu and Kashmir, People's Republic of China. I apprised Twitter by tagging m, expecting m to take action, but except for anger from people of India, thing happened."

He ded, "We tried again by doing an experimental live with a different brocast, but again same results came up. Even w 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 t kw why this is happening, but it is my duty to inform you about it."

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

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(With ANI inputs)