In fresh trouble for the microblogging site, Twitter India Managing Director Manish Maheshwari has been booked under Section 505 (2) of IPC and Section 74 of IT (Amendment) Act 2008 for showing the wrong map of India on its website, on the complaint of a Bajrang Dal leader in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr.
Hours after drawing flak over displaying a distorted map of India, the global map, which grossly misrepresented India's boundaries, was removed on late Monday evening by Twitter following social media outrage.
"The world map does not show Ladakh, Jammu and Kashmir as parts of India. This is not a coincidence. This act has hurt the sentiments of Indians, including me," Bajrang Dal's western UP convenor Praveen Bhati said in the complaint.
Charges under Information Technology Act section 74 (publication for fraudulent purpose) have also been invoked in the case, according to the FIR, seen by PTI.
The glaring distortion, which appeared on the career section of Twitter website under the header 'Tweep Life', had triggered a heavy backlash from netizens on Monday as they demanded strict action against the microblogging platform that has flouted various rules on multiple occasions in the past.
This is not the first time that Twitter has misrepresented India's map. In October 2020, Twitter had shown Leh as a part of the People's Republic of China (PRC).
"This is not the first time that Twitter has got India's map wrong and that's perhaps the reason why intermediary guidelines mandate that social media and tech company employees should understand the local cultural sensitivities in territorial issues. I guess it is time to realise that there is inadequacy in compliance with the law of land," BJP IT Cell in-charge Amit Malviya said.
The row comes at a time when Twitter has locked horns with the government over the amended IT rules. Twitter India MD has also been summoned several times in the recent past over the video of an elderly man in Loni, which, according to the authorities 'disrupted social harmony'.
