Twitter reportedly have blocked access to the government of Pakistan’s official account in Gilgit-Baltistan and changed the region’s location to parts of India, Dawn reported.
As per the Pakistani daily, when users turn on the location feature on the app, tweets sent from the region are marked as originating from Kashmir in India.
Users in Gilgit-Baltistan reported that they are unable to access the government’s official Twitter account. When users tried to access the account, an error message is popping up saying “account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand”.
“I am in #GilgitBaltistan & @Twitter can’t show tweets from @GovtofPakistan, saying that account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand! Hello @TwitterSupport, I’m in Pakistan why can’t I see tweets from various accounts I follow including the one mentioned?,” tweeted Yasir Hussain, a resident of Rahimabad area of Gilgit.
Hussain informed Dawn that when he tried to add a location to his tweets, he found that the app was labelling him as being in India-held ‘Jammu and Kashmir’ rather than GB. He further noted officials in Pakistan should take “serious cognisance” of this matter as India “might have influenced Twitter to change GB’s geo-tagging”.
Another Twitter user, Karim Shah Nizari also reported that he can’t add Pakistan’s location to his tweets. “The only option we are getting is Jammu and Kashmir.”
However, the Pakistani officials has termed the claim ‘baseless’ despite the fact that many are raising such concerns.
“There are no restrictions on the freedom of the internet, media and expression in the entire Gilgit Baltistan,” officials said.
The GB government also said that those making such claims on social media should stop spreading fake news.
The government’s official account has been banned in India since March 2023. In 2022, the account was withheld twice over “legal complaints”.
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