Facebook denies linking Aadhaar with user account, clears rumours in blog post

Social media platform, Facebook, which was in news for linking Aadhaar to the account, has clarified its stand on this part.

The company denied the speculations that Aadhar linking with user accounts is going to happen. The company cleared the rumour on its blog post.

The blog post read, “There have been a number of reports about a small test we ran in India to help new users sign up to Facebook. Some have interpreted this test as a request for people’s Aadhaar information when you sign up for a Facebook account. This is not correct. The test, which has now finished, merely includes additional language on the account sign-up page to explain that using their Aadhaar name will help family and friends recognize them. We are not collecting Aadhaar data and do not require people to enter their Aadhaar name when they sign up to Facebook.”

The blog post also told why the social networking site performed the test in India.

“The goal of this test was to help new users understand how to sign up to Facebook with their real name and connect with their friends and family. At the point of account sign-up, users who were part of the test saw language that said, “using the name on your Aadhaar card makes it easier for friends to recognize you.” This is an optional prompt that we were testing. People were not required to enter the name on their Aadhaar card, and there is no integration or authentication with Aadhaar,” read the post.

The controversy began when Facebook started testing the use of Aadhaar as an example to the users in India to put forth their real names while creating a new account.

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This move was seemingly made to control the number of fake accounts on the site in India, which is Facebook’s second largest market after the US.

The test, limited to only mobile sites of the platform, prompted new users to use ‘name as per Aadhaar card’ to make it ‘easier for friends to recognise you’. The test has now been concluded and the company does not have any plans to further roll the test out, according to Facebook.

The blog post ended by clearing all rumours, “The test ran with a small number of users in India and has now finished. As with all tests, we may learn new things that help us provide a better sign-up experience for people joining Facebook, but we currently have no plans to roll this test out further.”