MeitY, Survey of India crack down on apps with incorrect maps

Map of the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and the Survey of India (SoI) are cracking down on apps hosted on app stores such as Google Play Store that have been depicting India's map incorrectly.

Last month, SoI, based on information received from MeitY, issued a notice to Google stating that the app World Map Quiz, hosted on the Play Store, depicted the territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh incorrectly. The app, developed by Qbis Studio, has garnered over 5 million downloads on the Play Store.

India's Information Technology Act and the IT Rules prohibit publishers of content from hosting any content that is illegal under any law in any jurisdiction.

The notice sent under Sec 79 (3) (b) of the IT Act said that the incorrect depiction of India's boundary "jeopardises the sovereignty and Integrity of India". The SoI also informed Google that depicting an incorrect map of India is an offence under the Criminal Law Amendment Act of 1990.

Images accessed by Moneycontrol showed that World Map Quiz had previously depicted the map of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh Union Territories with the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and Line of Control (LoC). However, on July 26, Moneycontrol observed that the LAC and LoC lines had been removed from the map.

"Regarding the notice sent by Survey of India, we made a necessary correction in our application and released a new version about a month ago. Since the version 3.15.2 the map inside the app is corrected and compliant with maps published by Survey of India," Qbis Studio said in response to Moneycontrol's queries.

"The government of India considers that map published for use in the country should contain accurate and reliable information, particularly with regard to the external boundaries and coastlines of India, as wrong depiction of these amounts to questioning the territorial integrity," SoI said.

Moneycontrol has reached out to Google for comments on the matter and the story will be updated when a response is received.

SoI has also issued another notice to Google regarding MA 2 - President Simulator, a game on the Play Store that also depicted the maps of J&K and Ladakh incorrectly.

These notices come after MeitY held a meeting with SOI and informed them that it receives complaints directly from users about the wrongful depiction of Indian maps. These complaints are forwarded to SOI, as it is the nodal government body for identifying incorrect depictions of external boundaries.

This is not the first time that Indian authorities have cracked down on platforms that depict the country's maps incorrectly.

In 2021, Twitter was embroiled in a dispute with the Indian government over compliance with the IT Rules 2021. At the time, former Twitter India executive Manish Maheshwari was charged by Uttar Pradesh police for wrongfully depicting an Indian map.

Twitter's career website, Tweep Life, had shown the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh outside of India. The distorted map, which was flagged by a Twitter user, sparked outrage and calls for action. However, the map has since been corrected.