WhatsApp got a stern warning from Union Minister of State for Electronics and IT, Rajeev Chandrasekhar for tweeting an incorrect map of India earlier today (December 31). The Meta-owned instant messaging platform WhatsApp tweeted the wrong map of India in its New Year celebration live-streaming link. The minister, tagging WhatsApp, asked the company to immediately fix the error. In the tweet, the minister reiterated that all social media platforms that do business in India must use the correct map of the country.
“Dear @WhatsApp Rqst that u pls fix the India map error asap. All platforms that do business in India and/or want to continue to do business in India, must use correct maps,” tweeted Chandrasekhar.
Dear @WhatsApp – Rqst that u pls fix the India map error asap. All platforms that do business in India and/or wan… https://t.co/aixKMIYkSw
— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) 1672483478000
Second ‘warning’ this week
Earlier this week, Chandrasekhar issued a similar ‘warning’ to Eric Yuan, the CEO and founder of the video calling platform Zoom after he tweeted a video that had distorted map of India.
“You may want to make sure u use correct maps of the countries u do/want to do business in,” Chandrasekhar told Yuan.
you may want to make sure u use correct maps of the countries u do / want to do business in @ericsyuan https://t.co/wveFuhh9xJ
— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) 1672239807000
The tweet shared by Yuan showed top video calling platforms in each country globally. The video in the tweet had the wrong map of India in which the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir was not shown.
Zoom CEO deleted the tweet showing the incorrect map of the country after Chandrasekhar’s tweet. He thanked the minister and others who pointed out the error. “I recently took down a tweet that many of you had pointed out had issues with the map. Thank you for the feedback!!” he tweeted.
I recently took down a tweet that many of you had pointed out had issues with the map. Thank you for the feedback!!
— Eric S. Yuan (he / him / his) (@ericsyuan) 1672246873000
In October this year, the government had notified rules under which it will set up appellate panels to redress grievances that users may have against the decisions of social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook on hosting contentious content.
The obligations of intermediaries earlier were limited to notifying users of rules but now with the new rules there will be much more definite obligations on platforms.
