Government criticizes Twitter, urges it to honor India’s sovereignty

Photo Credits: Hindustan Times

The Indian Government has written a letter to the Twitter CEO, Jack Dorsey, criticizing Twitter regarding the location settings of the site, which displayed regions of Leh as a part of China, which happened on Sunday. The letter questions the credibility and neutrality of the social media site, officials revealed on Thursday.

An official who wishes to remain anonymous, stated, “The Union electronics and information technology ministry Secretary [Ajay Sawhney] has conveyed the government’s disappointment to Dorsey.”

He further added, “It [location settings] was brought to our notice on October 18 when a senior journalist was doing a Twitter live from Leh… [he] noticed that the location showed that it [Leh] was in China.”

The officials emphasized on that Twitter should be respecting the integrity and sovereignty of India. “This is unacceptable and Twitter must explain it. They should also ensure that it never happens again. India is one of the countries with the maximum number of Twitter users,” the official said.

Another official remarked, “If you are working in India, you must respect the country’s sovereignty.”

Regarding the discrepancies, a Twitter spokesperson stated the social networking site is still committed to working with the government and will respect the sensitivities involved. The spokesperson revealed that Twitter has received and acknowledged the letter from government.

Earlier on Sunday, Journalist Nitin Gokhale was live on Twitter from Leh, when the geo-tagging feature denoted his location in China. In a series of tweets, he urged the users to verify the same. “Twitter folks, I just did a live from the Hall of Fame. Giving Hall of Fame as the location and guess what it is saying Jammu & Kashmir, Peoples Republic of China! Are you guys nuts,” Gokhale tweeted. “Tweeple pl [please] put Hall of Fame Leh as your location for live broadcast and see what’s happening. It shows location as Jammu and Kashmir, Peoples Republic of China. I tested it again. Outrageous. Pl [please] flood Twitter with complaints. GoI [the government of India should take immediate action.”

This comes at a time when India-China are having heavy border disputes from months over Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.