Facebook recently ran a test in India asking the users to use their name on Aadhar while signing up for new accounts in India that seems like social media is now asking for the user’s Aadhaar details. The Indian government is asking the citizens to link their Aadhar with a host of services and schemes such as bank accounts, PAN, mobile connections and many other schemes. It seems that after the government, Facebook is now asking the Aadhaar information of its users.
Facebook clarifies on Aadhaar Data
However, in response to some reports that state that Facebook is running a test and asking for Aadhar information from people signing up for new accounts, Facebook has clarified that it has no such plans. The social media giant said that the test is now complete and it includes text which says that if users will use the exact name mentioned on their Aadhaar, it will help their family and friends recognize them easily. Facebook noted in a blog that it is not collecting the Aadhaar details of users and do not ask people to enter their Aadhar name while signing up for an account.
Facebook encourages users to use Aadhaar name
Facebook told that the purpose of the test was to encourage its users to use their real name and help them recognised by their friends and family. The move is seen as the Facebook’s effort to check the rising numbers of fake accounts on the social media platform. However, Facebook did not make any official announcement regarding this. Facebook users who were a part of the test saw a text that said “if you use the name as given on your Aadhar card, it will help your friends recognise you”
Facebook said that this was an optional prompt that they were testing. It is not mandatory to enter the name of Aadhar card and there is no authentication required with Aadhaar for signing up to Facebook. The social media giant said that they ran the test with a few number of people in India and they have no further plans to roll out the test. With more than 240 million Facebook users in the country, India is the second largest number of users after the United States.
Source:ndtv.com
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