Many Indians were infuriated after Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg posted an image on his Facebook page, which showed a map of India that didn't include the entire region of Jammu and Kashmir.
Zuckerberg's post was made following the launch of the Facebook-led Internet.org in Malawi earlier this week. The Facebook founder aims to provide a platform that will allow billions of people to have free access to select content and services from the Internet.
The project caters largely to those who cannot afford to have Internet access or are not willing to cover the expenses involved in doing Internet-based activities.
"We won't stop until every person in the world can connect to the Internet," said Zuckerberg in a post.
However, Zuckerberg's recent post earned a negative reaction from a number of Indians. Some even threatened to ban Facebook if the mistake were not corrected. The mistake was about missing the entire Jammu and Kashmir region, one of India's 29 states, in the infographic.
Indians regard the missing state as an "inseparable part of India." The map of India is a very sensitive issue. The Indian government is known for banning magazines and books that give wrong representations of the boundaries.
Since their separation in 1947, India and Pakistan have been locked in the Kashmir territorial dispute. At least three wars have already been waged because of the two countries' claim on the region.
Zuckerberg later on decided to delete the controversial post.
One user, identified as S.K. Rao, commented: "Don't need your free Internet. All Indians log off Facebook if map is not corrected."
Another comment came from a user who said: "After China, now Mark Zuckerberg posts Indian map without Kashmir. I hope government bans Facebook like they did with al-Jazeera."
The comment, which gave reference to China, may have been attributed to that instance when the Chinese-owned CCTV also excluded Jammu and Kashmir when they showed the map of India. Furthermore, they also failed to show the northeastern Arunachal Pradesh where India and China are said to have a border dispute.
The launch of Internet.org in India has also been under attack from supporters of net neutrality. Many Indian businesses even announced non-participation in the platform.
India currently has more than 112 million Facebook users, making the country a key market for the social platform. A billion more in the population is also estimated as potential users. One report says that India can even surpass the U.S. and become the country with the largest number of mobile Facebook users by 2017.
