Elon Musk-helmed Twitter has reportedly blocked access to the Pakistan government’s official account in Gilgit-Baltistan. It has apparently changed the location of the region’s users to Kashmir. Users from the region have complained that when they turn on the location feature on the app, the tweets show to have originated from Kashmir.
Many Twitter users in the Gilgit-Baltistan region complained that they were unable to access the government’s official account in the region.
Twitter, as per users who shared the images, stated that the Pakistan government’s “account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand”.
Another user said that he can’t add Pakistan’s location to his tweets, and that the only option available is Jammu and Kashmir.
Pakistan Telecommunication Authority said that the matter has been thoroughly investigated. “Reference news circulating on social media and certain section of news media that Twitter has blocked access to the Government of Pakistan’s official account in Gilgit-Baltistan and changed the region’s location to parts of India, PTA would like to clarify that that the matter has been thoroughly investigated and no such problem has been found, as being circulated in the media,” it added.
PTA stated that after a detailed on-ground testing, it appears that the “sporadic issues” were limited to a few iOS devices. “These incidents are not significant and do not reflect a widespread problem,” it added.
Pakistani news site Dawn stated that social media users said that the microblogging site has “disrespected the status of Gilgit-Baltistan” and called it an attack on the region’s identity.
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