Twitter issues written apology for 'Ladakh in China' error

Twitter on November 18 issued a formal apology to a key parliamentary panel for wrongly showing Leh and Ladakh as a part of China.

The microblogging site has said that it will rectify its error by the end of November, according to the committee's chairperson Meenakshi Lekhi.

Twitter's deposition has come in form of an affidavit signed by Damien Karien, Chief Privacy Officer of Twitter Inc, for wrong geo-tagging of India's map, Lekhi said.

"Earning and maintaining the trust of the people on our service is of the utmost importance. Twitter remains committed to serving and protecting the public conversation and partnering with the Government of India," a spokesperson for Twitter was quoted as saying by The Hindustan Times.

"They have apologised for hurting Indian sentiments and have sworn to correct the error by November 30, 2020," Lekhi said.

Appearing before the panel, chaired by Lekhi, representatives of Twitter India had "begged apology", but they were told by the members that it was a criminal offence that questioned the sovereignty of the country and an affidavit must be submitted by Twitter Inc, not by its 'marketing arm' Twitter India.

Twitter had come under heavy criticism and faced a backlash from social media users after its geotagging feature displayed "Jammu & Kashmir, the People's Republic of China" in a live broadcast from Leh's Hall of Fame, a war memorial for fallen soldiers in the Union Territory of Ladakh.

The Indian government on October 22 had warned Twitter about its location setting that showed Leh in China, saying any disrespect towards the country's sovereignty and integrity is totally unacceptable.

In a strongly-worded letter, Ajay Sawhney, Secretary in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), asked Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to respect the country's sensitivities, sources in the ministry had said.

In its affidavit submitted before the parliamentary panel, Twitter is believed to have said the issue was "caused due to a software error combined with imperfect data resulting in an incorrect geo-tag".

"In the last few weeks, we have worked towards resolving the geo-tag issue in a manner wherein Leh as well as other cities in the Union Territory of Ladakh will now accurately show with their respective city name, state and country.

"In addition to this, we are also reviewing the geo-tag for various other cities in Jammu and Kashmir. This work is already in progress and we are targeting November 30, 2020, to complete this exercise," it added.

(With inputs from PTI)