India Orders Google to Remove Ablo App Over Map Accuracy Issue (2025)

The Indian government told Google to remove the video chat app Ablo from its Play Store after finding that the app showed an incorrect map of the country. Officials said the map misrepresented key regions by depicting Jammu & Kashmir and Ladakh incorrectly and omitting the Lakshadweep Islands, according to a report by India Today. They called it a serious issue that threatened India’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), along with the Survey of India (SoI), sent a notice to Google. They pointed to two laws: the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1990, which treats incorrect maps as a punishable offence, and Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, which instructs platforms to remove illegal content when the government asks them to. While Google had yet to remove the app, Apple had already pulled it from the App Store in India.

What We Know About Ablo

Ablo enabled users to engage with strangers from different countries through live video chats and instant messaging. A Belgian company called MassiveMedia built the app. Match Group, which owns Tinder and OkCupid, later bought it.

The app stood out for its real-time translation feature. It helped users speak across language barriers without needing a common language. People could pick any country and start a conversation with someone there.

While Ablo wasn’t as big as WhatsApp or Instagram, it gained popularity among younger users who wanted to meet people from other cultures. By the time India decided to remove the app, over 10,000 users in the country had downloaded it.

India’s Pattern of Enforcement

This was not the first instance of the government taking action against an app for inaccurately depicting India’s borders. Other examples include:

• Maps.me: The Survey of India sent a notice for displaying a map that inaccurately depicted India’s borders. Google and Apple removed it.
• WorldMap Quiz: MeitY flagged the map, and the developer later corrected it.
• Twitter (now X): In 2021, Uttar Ptradesh police filed a case against Twitter India’s head after the site’s career page showed J&K and Ladakh as a separate country.
• World Health Organization (WHO): India objected to how WHO depicted Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh in different colours than the rest of the Indian map. WHO added a disclaimer after the Ministry of External Affairs stepped in.

These actions show that the government takes territorial depictions seriously, even when it involves global organisations.

What the Law Says

India treats map accuracy as a legal matter. The Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 1990 makes it a punishable offence to depict India’s external boundaries incorrectly. This includes showing territories like Jammu & Kashmir or Ladakh as separate from India. Anyone who commits this offence can face imprisonment for up to six months, a fine, or both.

Under Section 79(3)(b) of the Information Technology Act, 2000, platforms must take down content that violates Indian laws when notified by the government or its agencies. The law says that intermediaries must act when they know they’re hosting unlawful content. This can happen in two ways: either they gain actual knowledge of it, or they receive an official notice from the government. Once that happens, they must remove or block access to the content quickly. They also need to make sure they don’t destroy any evidence in the process. If they fail to do this, they can be held legally responsible.

In Shreya Singhal v. Union of India (2015), the Supreme Court clarified that “actual knowledge” means a written order from a court or government authority. This judgment ensured that platforms are not required to act on vague complaints or general allegations. However, once they receive a valid takedown notice, they must comply. This ruling laid the foundation for how intermediary liability and content takedown obligations work today.

MediaNama’s View: Inconsistent and Opaque

MediaNama editor Nikhil Pahwa questioned why, when Maps.me showed an erroneous map of India back in January, 2025, the government targeted some apps but not others. He said:

“Other map services also depict India’s map incorrectly. It’s not just Maps.me, if you look at OpenStreetMaps as well, they don’t depict India’s borders correctly, with parts of Kashmir and Ladakh not shown as a part of India’s territory. So why exactly has only Maps.me been targeted? Why not every other website in the world that displays even a screenshot of India’s map incorrectly? We have to have consistency in how policies are implemented.”

Pahwa said platforms often can’t win. If they follow one country’s rules on borders, they risk violating another’s. Some try to solve this by showing different maps based on location or by using dotted lines. Still, that doesn’t always satisfy regulators.

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He also raised concerns about due process. He asked whether the government gave Maps.me a chance to fix the issue before removing it. The Shreya Singhal ruling suggests they should have.

India’s Push for Mapping Control

India is setting up its own system to manage digital maps more closely. Through the National Geospatial Policy (NGP-2022), the government wants to bring together map and location data from different sources onto a single platform.

The Survey of India has picked companies like MapMyIndia, Jio Platforms, and LTI Mindtree to help build this platform. Indian firms can now create and share high-accuracy maps without restrictions. But foreign companies don’t have the same freedom, as they need to rely on Indian data providers if they want to offer detailed maps. This approach helps India maintain tighter control over sensitive geographic information.

Why This Matters

The Ablo case shows that the Indian government expects digital platforms to follow its laws on map accuracy. It does not treat map errors as small mistakes. It sees them as political problems that affect national sovereignty.

This isn’t the first time India has taken action. It has removed apps like Maps.me and flagged others like WorldMap Quiz and Twitter for similar issues. The law allows the government to act, and it is using that power.

Platforms that do not comply face consequences. These include takedown orders, legal liability, and reputational risk. Ablo promoted global conversations, but that did not protect it. Once the app showed the map of India incorrectly, the government acted.

India is making it clear that companies must get its borders right. Digital maps are not neutral. They carry legal and political meaning.

Also read:

• Summary: Draft National Geospatial Data Policy, 2021
• Google Maps Expands Free Usage Limits for Developers
• Apple Conducting Ground Surveys In Partnership with Tech Mahindra to Expand 360° View Maps Feature