Amidst IT rules row, old video of Twitter geo-tagging Ladakh as part of China surfaces

New Delhi, May 31: A clip that was recorded in October 2020 which spoke about Twitter geo-tagging Ladakh as part of the People's Republic of China has gone viral.

Nitin Gokhale, National Security Analyst and founder of Bharat Shakti and Strat News Global took to Twitter and said, Sunday morning distraction. This clip recorded in Leh in Oct 2020 has popped on social media and is going viral in various groups. This was the day when I discovered Twitter was geo-tagging Ladakh as part of People's Republic of China. Huge outrage forced a correction of course.

The clip has gone viral amidst a row between Twitter and the Centre in the wake of the new IT rules. While almost all social media giants have submitted compliance of the new rules, Twitter is yet to do so.

Large social media companies like Google, Facebook and WhatsApp have shared details with the IT Ministry as per requirement of the new digital rules, but Twitter is still not following the norms, the government had said.

Twitter has not sent details of chief compliance officer to the IT Ministry, and shared details of a lawyer working in a law firm as nodal contact person and grievance officer.

In October last year, Twitter landed itself into trouble after Jammu and Kashmir was shown as a part of China during a live broadcast by one of India's best national security analysts Nitin Gokhale at a war memorial in Leh, the capital of Ladakh.

Gokhale started the live broadcast on Twitter from the Hall of Fame Memorial for soldiers who lost their lives in the line of duty. The location tag displayed in the video was marked Jammu and Kashmir, People's Republic of China.

Many Twitter users including Gokhale himself immediately pointed out the error. They tagged official handles of Twitter and Twitter India. Gokhale, the editor-in-chief of Strat News Global wrote, "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?"

Fellow of the Observer Research Foundation, Kanchan Gupta had written, "so @Twitter has decided to reconfigure geography and declare Jammu & Kashmir as part of People's Republic of #China. If this is not a violation of #India laws, what is? Citizens of India have been punished for far less. But US Big Tech is above the law?"