Twitter 'relocates' users of Gilgit-Baltistan to Jammu and Kashmir

In addition, when users turn on the location feature on the app, tweets sent from the region are marked as originating from Jammu and Kashmir.

The issue came to light after several Twitter users in GB complained they were unable to access the government’s official account from the region, Dawn News reported.

When users tried to access the account, a message was displayed stating the “account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand”.

Journalist ShabbirMir Shina tweeted: " While I'm in Gilgit, with my location on, twitter locates me in Jammu & Kashmir."

He said: " And yes, @GovtofPakistanisn't accessible either. This means India intruded into Pakistan's digital space, influencing @elonmusk and his twitter."

Yasir Hussain, a resident of Rahimabad area of Gilgit. told Dawn News 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 said 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.”

Nizari told Dawn that he was based in the Yasin Valley of Ghizer district, but the Twitter algorithm was showing him tweets from India on his feed.

He added all official Twitter accounts of the Pakistani government which are inaccessible in the held Kashmir, are also not working in GB.

In June 2022, Twitter had banned a slew of Pakistani accounts including that of the Pakistani mission in the UN, Turkiye, Iran and Egypt and Radio Pakistan.

When contacted by Dawn, the GB government’s information department referred to a press release issued on the matter.

It said the claims regarding the government of Pakistan’s official Twitter account being inaccessible in GB were “baseless”.

“There are no restrictions on the freedom of the internet, media and expression in the entire Gilgit Baltistan.”

The GB government said those making such claims on social media should stop spreading fake news.

The Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) said in a statement later today that the matter had been “thoroughly investigated”.

“After detailed on-ground testing, it appears that any sporadic issues encountered are limited to very few iOS devices, affecting a small number of users,” the PTA said in a statement, adding that such incidents were not significant and did not reflect a widespread problem.