You could find lots of posts talking about Facebook and Aadhaar linking. But most of the people misunderstood the news. Even few media houses reported the whole incident in the wrong manner.
Also see: How to download e-aadhaar
Facebook is not asking you to link your Aadhaar for creating a new account. It is just suggesting people use the same name that is in their Aadhaar card. Basically, it wants new users to use their real name on Facebook. Previously, it used to suggest users to use the real name. Not sure if changing the text will help in any way.
After the wrong reports came, Facebook also clarified the whole thing in a blog post.
“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,” blog post reads.
Facebook is not asking your Aadhaar number. So, there is no way it can verify if you are using your real name. You can still use any random name and create a new account. The test is limited to Facebook’s mobile site. The only change is in the text.
“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,” Facebook says.
India is the second largest country on Facebook. But it also has a considerable amount of fake profiles from India. So, the new test encourages users to go with the real name. It also makes it easy to search for your profile.
