Govt asks Wikipedia to take down wrong map of India

The Union government has asked Wikipedia to take down a map showing Aksai Chin as a part of China, issuing a strongly worded letter to the United States-based nonprofit, according to officials familiar with the matter. Wikipedia works on a volunteer-based model to compile the information, distinct from social media platforms that have recently been pulled up over similar issues. The order, was issued on November 27, invoked section 69A of the Information Technology Act, snubbing Wikipedia for violating the “territorial integrity of India”.

NEW DELHI: The Union government has asked Wikipedia to take down a map showing Aksai Chin as a part of China, issuing a strongly worded letter to the United States-based nonprofit, according to officials familiar with the matter.

Wikipedia is one of the most popular repositories of information online, and works on a volunteer-based model, distinct from social media platforms that have recently been pulled up over similar issues.

The secretary of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology Ajay Sawhney has asked Wikipedia to immediately take down the map. The order, was issued on November 27, invoked section 69A of the Information Technology Act, snubbing Wikipedia for violating the “territorial integrity of India”.

“The secretary has satisfied himself that the map has been wrongly depicted,” said one of the officials, asking not to be named. In the order, this person added, the secretary states that the content on the website is done with the intent to “defame” the country and has the “potential to disturb the sovereignty and harmony of the nation”.

HT wrote to Wikimedia Foundation on its press contact email but did not receive a response.

This, however, is not the first time the government has taken up the misrepresentation of the map of India this year. In September, the government served Twitter a notice over a similar map issue — the geotag for Leh showed it as a part of China. Twitter has since resolved the issue.

“The secretary further adds that it violates the territorial integrity of the country, and it is well within the power of the ministry under section 69A to order it to be taken down,” this person quoted above added.

The issue was brought to the notice of the ministry when a Twitter user tagged the Union home ministry and asked them to take strict action against the website. The contentious Wikipedia page is titled Bhutan-India relations and talks about the bilateral ties between the two countries.

Although the ministry has not specified a time frame within which to remove the page, it has been monitoring the website to see when action would be taken. As of Wednesday evening, HT could access the map.

If Wikipedia fails to respond in a timely fashion, officials said, then two legal options are available to the ministry. It can either initiate action under the Criminal Law Amendment Act, which can result in the imprisonment, or invoke section 69A to block access to the website in India.