Facebook may now ask its new users to input their 'names as per Aadhaar' for opening an account. The prompt, first noticed by a Reddit user has been confirmed by Facebook, which, however, said that it is not mandatory and is only a move to curb rising number of fake accounts.
After a Reddit user noticed a peculiar prompt from Facebook requesting the user to input his/her 'name as per Aadhaar' for opening an account, speculations were rife if Aadhaar is now being mandatory for opening the social media account.
However, it is just a prompt noticed by a small percentage of users and not mandatory, reported the NDTV, adding that the prompt does not seek any other detail other than the name mentioned in the Aadhaar.
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"We want to make sure people can use the names they're known by on Facebook, and can easily connect with friends and family. This is a small test where we provide additional language when people sign up for an account to say that using the name on their Aadhaar card makes it easier for friends to recognise them. This is an optional prompt which we are testing, people are not required to enter the name on their Aadhaar card," NDTV quoted a Facebook spokesperson as saying.
Linking of the 12-digit biometric with mobile phones, bank accounts, and PAN is mandatory.
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Recently, a nine-judge constitution bench of the apex court had held that Right to Privacy was a Fundamental Right under the Constitution. Several petitioners challenging the validity of Aadhaar had claimed it violated privacy rights.
Some petitioners in the top court have termed the linking of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) number with bank accounts and mobile numbers as "illegal and unconstitutional".
India is the largest audience country for Facebook, requesting for data 9,853 times in the first half of 2017 - up from 6,324 times in the first half of 2016, according to a latest report by the social media giant.
The Indian government and law enforcement agencies had requested for some information on 13,752 user accounts. Facebook produced "some data" in 54 per cent of the cases in the January-June 2017 period.
In the case of 262 Facebook accounts flagged in the "Emergency" category from user/account requests, the company produced "some data" in 36 per cent of the cases.
