By Kaveesha Fernando
NEW DELHI, India (CWBN)_The Indian government has ordered Wikipedia to remove a map which depicts Jammu and Kashmir incorrectly, labelling a section of it as part of China.
Indian media reports that the country’s Ministry of Electronics and IT issued an order on November 27 under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act (2000) demanding that Wikipedia remove the link because it violated the territorial integrity and sovereignty of India.
The Indian government is reported to have stated that the legal action which could be taken regarding the matter included blocking access to the entire platform. India previously took issue with Twitter labelling the capital city of Ladakh as part of China.
Unlike the social media platform, Wikipedia is a free online encyclopaedia, “created and edited by volunteers around the world” according to their website. The website is known to be less than entirely accurate; pages on its own website caution against reliance on the source. However, India seems committed to ensuring that all popular international websites and social media depict Indian territory accurately.
Section 69A was previously used by India to ban over 200 apps, most of which are from China. This included several apps from the Alibaba Group, popular Chinese dating apps and video streaming services such as TikTok.
Tensions between India and China have been fierce these past few months as the peace plan created to deescalate the situation in Ladakh has deteriorated. Apart from banning Chinese apps, India has also been aiming to garner international support in their fight against China.
Edited by Elishya Perera
