NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), along with the Survey of India (SoI), has directed US tech giant Google to remove the Chinese chat app ‘Ablo’ from its Play Store, as the app is not correct in its depiction of India’s territorial borders.
The government’s notice states that the China-based video chat platform, which has over 10,000 downloads on Google Play, misrepresented the Union Territories of Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh, and entirely omitted Lakshadweep Island from its map. The directive also refers to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1990, which makes such misrepresentations a punishable offense with imprisonment of up to six months, fines, or both.
"It is evident that the subject map in the 'Ablo' app available at Google Play Store depicts Indian map with erroneous external boundary of India which jeopardises the sovereignty and integrity of India," the notice states.
MeitY has cited Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which mandates intermediaries to “expeditiously remove or disable access” to content that violates Indian laws, in its notice to Google.
MEITY’s notice states that the issue of incorrect maps on digital platforms, was flagged during a meeting with SoI. The ministry has asked SoI to pursue legal action against such apps under relevant laws.
The IT Ministry also cited the Supreme Court’s 2015 Shreya Singhal v. Union of India judgment, which obligates intermediaries to act on valid government order.
Google appears to have complied with the order, as Google Play Store landing page of the app now shows the message: “We're sorry, the requested URL was not found on this server”. The app is also now unavailable on Apple's App Store for the Indian users.
Earlier in 2023, MeitY and SoI flagged apps on the Play Store such as World Map Quiz and MA 2 - President Simulator for depicting India’s borders incorrectly. Similarly, in 2021, Twitter (now X) was pulled up by the Indian government over non-compliance with the IT Rules 2021.
The then Twitter India chief Manish Maheshwari was booked by the Uttar Pradesh police on charges for incorrect representation of the map of India.