The Government of India has asked Google to pull down the Chinese video chat application 'Ablo' from the Play Store and has expressed concerns about the app's incorrect presentation of India's territorial boundaries. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) stated, along with the Survey of India (SoI), that the app represents Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh as Union Territories and excluded the Lakshadweep Islands from the Indian map.

In the formal notice sent by the government, it was stated that the app's way of showing India's external borders is a threat to the country's sovereignty and territorial integrity. The app, which had over 10,000 downloads, was flagged during a period of joint review by Meity and the Survey of India. Authorities were of the opinion that such misleading representations are a punishable crime under the law of India. 

Action by Government

Under the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1990, the notice states wrong depiction of an Indian map is a recognisable crime which might result in half-a-year imprisonment, fine, or both. Moreover, the Government cited Section 79(3)(b) of Information Technology Act, 2000 according to which digital intermediaries must act without delay to remove any unlawful content from appearing on their platforms as per Indian laws.

“It is evident that the subject map in the ‘Ablo’ app available at Google Play Store depicts an Indian map with an erroneous external boundary of India, which jeopardises the sovereignty and integrity of India,” the notice states.

The communication from MeitY cites the Supreme Court's ruling in the case of Shreya Singhal v. Union of India in 2015, which stated that intermediaries such as Google are legally bound to obey government orders to take down unlawful content. 

Google's Response

Google seems to have complied with the order immediately after it was made. The Play Store page for the app displayed the message "We're sorry, the requested URL was not found on this server," confirming its removal. The app was also pulled down by Apple as it is no longer available to Indian users on the App Store.

In 2023 MeitY and Survey of India had flagged several other applications for wrongfully displaying maps of India, namely, World Map Quiz and MA 2-President Simulator. in 2021, the Indian government had raised similar objections with Twitter (now X) concerning the mock representation of India. At that time, Twitter India's former chief, Manish Maheshwari, had been arrested by the Uttar Pradesh police.