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Why Are Kashmiris ‘Mysteriously’ Disappearing From WhatsApp Groups?
A spokesperson for Facebook, who owns WhatsApp, stated that these disappearances were due to the application’s policy against inactive accounts.
By EMAN ZAFAR On DEC 5, 2019
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Kashmiris have started disappearing from WhatsApp groups, and no one knows why.
Residents of Kashmir, whose autonomy Indian government abolished in August, began leaving WhatsApp groups they were a part of mysteriously, leaving behind a message saying ‘[Phone number] left’.
In an attempt to isolate the citizens from the rest of the world, Indian authorities have shut down all internet services in the territory. There has been no internet service for the past four months.
Observers, due to this, suspected that the participants didn’t willingly leave the groups and maybe are oblivious to the fact that anything has even changed.
A spokesperson for Facebook, who owns WhatsApp, stated that these disappearances were due to the application’s policy against inactive accounts.
“To maintain security and limit data retention, WhatsApp accounts generally expire after 120 days of inactivity,”- they wrote.
“When that happens, those accounts automatically exit their WhatsApp groups. People will need to be re-added to groups upon regaining access to the Internet and joining WhatsApp again.”
Khalid Shah@khalidbshah
https://twitter.com/khalidbshah/status/1202290350867410944
4 months of inactivity, WhatsApp accounts from Kashmir are getting deleted. Weird to see individuals you haven't spoken for all these months 'leave' WA groups whereas in reality an important part of their digital imprint - images, videos, texts & memories attached - vanishing.
However, the question posed by BuzzFeed News about how many Kashmiris were impacted was left unanswered. Users whose profiles have expired will have to re-register on WhatsApp, and signup again on the app.
Around 400 million people from India alone use WhatsApp, this makes India the largest market for the application in the entire world.
Sabah Hamid@akh_koor
https://twitter.com/akh_koor/status/1202262956743909376
Kashmir contacts automatically "exiting" from my WhatsApp groups today.
I know they would not have been able to see my messages anyway, but this is heartbreakingly symbolic.
WhatsApp groups dominate the online conversations in India, and the majority of Indians with access to a smartphone participate in groups openly. So, when Kashmiris started to disappear in masses, people took notice of the issue.
“I initially thought that internet services had been restored in Kashmir and maybe these people were just removing themselves from WhatsApp groups on their own,” – Mudasir Firdausi, a London-based Kashmiri doctor who is in numerous WhatsApp groups with friends and family in Kashmir, told a news outlet.
“But I quickly realized that’s not the case.” – he said.
A spokesperson for Facebook, who owns WhatsApp, stated that these disappearances were due to the application’s policy against inactive accounts.
By EMAN ZAFAR On DEC 5, 2019
1
Share
Kashmiris have started disappearing from WhatsApp groups, and no one knows why.
Residents of Kashmir, whose autonomy Indian government abolished in August, began leaving WhatsApp groups they were a part of mysteriously, leaving behind a message saying ‘[Phone number] left’.
In an attempt to isolate the citizens from the rest of the world, Indian authorities have shut down all internet services in the territory. There has been no internet service for the past four months.
Observers, due to this, suspected that the participants didn’t willingly leave the groups and maybe are oblivious to the fact that anything has even changed.
A spokesperson for Facebook, who owns WhatsApp, stated that these disappearances were due to the application’s policy against inactive accounts.
“To maintain security and limit data retention, WhatsApp accounts generally expire after 120 days of inactivity,”- they wrote.
“When that happens, those accounts automatically exit their WhatsApp groups. People will need to be re-added to groups upon regaining access to the Internet and joining WhatsApp again.”
Khalid Shah@khalidbshah
https://twitter.com/khalidbshah/status/1202290350867410944
4 months of inactivity, WhatsApp accounts from Kashmir are getting deleted. Weird to see individuals you haven't spoken for all these months 'leave' WA groups whereas in reality an important part of their digital imprint - images, videos, texts & memories attached - vanishing.
However, the question posed by BuzzFeed News about how many Kashmiris were impacted was left unanswered. Users whose profiles have expired will have to re-register on WhatsApp, and signup again on the app.
Around 400 million people from India alone use WhatsApp, this makes India the largest market for the application in the entire world.
Sabah Hamid@akh_koor
https://twitter.com/akh_koor/status/1202262956743909376
Kashmir contacts automatically "exiting" from my WhatsApp groups today.
I know they would not have been able to see my messages anyway, but this is heartbreakingly symbolic.
WhatsApp groups dominate the online conversations in India, and the majority of Indians with access to a smartphone participate in groups openly. So, when Kashmiris started to disappear in masses, people took notice of the issue.
“I initially thought that internet services had been restored in Kashmir and maybe these people were just removing themselves from WhatsApp groups on their own,” – Mudasir Firdausi, a London-based Kashmiri doctor who is in numerous WhatsApp groups with friends and family in Kashmir, told a news outlet.
“But I quickly realized that’s not the case.” – he said.
