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WhatsApp Shares Incorrect Map Of India, Gets Called Out By IT Minister Rajeev Chandrashekhar
Writer: Jayali Wavhal
She writes about gender issues, human interest, and environment.
India, 1 Jan 2023 11:21 AM GMT
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Creatives : Jayali Wavhal
She writes about gender issues, human interest, and environment.
In the video tweeted by WhatsApp to mark New Year’s Eve, the map of India did not include the regions of Jammu and Kashmir illegally occupied by Pakistan, and some regions claimed by China.
WhatsApp, on December 31, 2022, posted a video from its official Twitter handle to welcome the new year by greeting its users and social media followers. However, the video featured an incorrect map of India, triggering a backlash from Twitterati.
Union Minister of State for Electronics and Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar, taking cognisance of the situation, requested Meta-owned WhatsApp to fix the error at the earliest.
WhatsApp Retracts Tweet, Apologises
In the video posted by WhatsApp to mark New Year's Eve, the map of India did not include the regions of Jammu and Kashmir illegally occupied by Pakistan, and some regions claimed by China.
In a tweet addressed to WhatsApp, the IT minister stated that all platforms doing business in India must use the correct map of the country and directed the company to rectify the mistake.
Dear @WhatsApp - Rqst that u pls fix the India map error asap.
— Rajeev Chandrasekhar 🇮🇳 (@Rajeev_GoI) December 31, 2022
All platforms that do business in India and/or want to continue to do business in India , must use correct maps. @GoI_MeitY @metaindia https://t.co/aGnblNDctK
Responding to the minister's tweet after three hours, WhatsApp acknowledged the error on their part and took down the video. Issuing an apology from its official handle, the messenger application said it would be mindful of its content in the future.
Thank you Minister for pointing out the unintended error; we have promptly removed the stream, apologies. We will be mindful in the future.
— WhatsApp (@WhatsApp) December 31, 2022
Zoom, Twitter CEO Too Shared Incorrect Maps
Earlier this week, Zoom CEO Eric Yuan shared a video about the top video-calling platforms in each country. In doing so, he shared an incorrect map of India, which excluded the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
Chandrashekhar had warned Yuan in a tweet, saying, "you may want to make sure u use correct maps of the countries u do / want to do business in @ericsyuan". Responding to the tweet and the backlash from Indian Twitterati, Yuan retracted the tweet and wrote, "I recently took down a tweet that many of you had pointed out had issues with the map. Thank you for the feedback!!"
Micro-blogging platform Twitter, in June 2021, too received heavy criticism for showing a distorted map of India. Following the backlash, Twitter removed the wrong map to conciliate the situation.
Also Read: 54% Of Indians Trust News They Receive On Whatsapp, 77% Trust News In General: Reuters Study
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