Twitter India MD Manish Maheshwari was booked in Uttar Pradesh’s Bulandshahr district on Tuesday amid fresh controversy over the website showing a distorted map of India. An FIR was lodged against Maheshwari along with another company official by a Bajrang Dal office-bearer’s complaint at the Khurja Nagar police station. This is the second FIR that has been filed against the social media giant in UP amidst its standoff with the government.
The controversy erupted on Monday as a user flagged Twitter for displaying a distorted map of India on its website under the header ‘Tweep Life’. This is the second time that Twitter has misrepresented the map of India. The map was later removed from the website after backlash from netizens. Earlier, Twitter had shown Leh as part of China.
Twitter displayed a distorted map of India on its website that showed J&K, Ladakh as separate country. (Website photo)
According to PTI, the complaint filed by Bajrang Dal stated, “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.”
The FIR has also named Amrita Tripathi, News Partnerships Head as an accused. Both Maheshwari and Tripathi have been booked under IPC’s section 505 (2) (public mischief). Charges under Information Technology Act section 74 (publication for fraudulent purpose) have also been invoked in the case, as reported by PTI.
Twitter is already engaged in a tussle with the Indian government over the new social media rules. The US digital giant was slammed by the government for deliberate defiance and failure to comply with the country’s new IT rules, which led to the microblogging platform losing its legal shield as an intermediary in India, and becoming liable for users posting any unlawful content.
