Indian Army asks officers to quit WhatsApp groups

New Delhi : The Indian Army in its new notice has barred its service officers to be a part of WhatsApp group where non-serving persons, including Army veterans, are members. The Army will keep a periodic check if there is a breach of order.

The directive issued last month requires all serving officers to exit WhatsApp and other social media groups except those consisting only serving officers whose identity could be verified.

The new policy also retrains the family members from posting information about serving officers on social media.

For the serving officers WhatsApp group, only information related to general enquiries and assistance can be shared. For any location-specific communication, the officers have been advised to go one-on-one and use the military tel service.

According to Army sources, the move followed attempts by foreign intelligence to gather information using social media platforms. This is a cautionary step in line with the guidelines the Army keeps issuing from time to time. This is a new-age security requirement and it will not be right to call this censorship, said a senior Army officer.

Last month, UP Police and military Intelligence spotted an attempt by a Pakistani spy to use bots and hack into computer systems of nearly 100 officials, including many from the military between 2015 and 2018.