Twitter relocates Gilgit-Baltistan users to J&K, causing confusion: report

Gilgit-Baltistan: Those using Twitter accounts from Gilgit-Baltistan found their location feature marked as in Jammu and Kashimir, Pakistan newspaper Dawn reported.

The change in location continued even after users turned on the location feature on the app, causing confusion in both Pakistan and the region.

Twitter reportedly blocked Pakistan's official Twitter account in Gilgit-Baltistan with people in the area showing changes in Twitter location, according to news agency ANI.

The issue was brought to notice after Twitter users in Giglit-Baltistan found they couldn’t access the government’s official account.

They found a message stating the "account has been withheld in India in response to a legal demand".

However, Pakistan officials denied any changes, saying ‘There are no restrictions on the freedom of the internet, media and expression in the entire Gilgit Baltistan.’

The government’s official account has been banned in India since 2023 alongside withholding it twice in 2022, following ‘legal complaints’, the news agency reported.

Yasir Hussain, a resident of Gilgit Baltistan, reportedly said: "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?’

Hussain found that the app located him in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, not Gilgit Baltistan.

The user accused India of having likely influenced Twitter to change the region’s ‘geotagging’, and urged Pakistan to take ‘serious cognizance’.