BENGALURU: The Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI) social media campaign to popularise Aadhaar based services using the hashtag #AadhaarStars appears to have backfired after Twitterati refused to take the recent Aadhaar data leaks lightly.
Besides taking a dig at UIDAI using the hashtag, social media users also generated the hashtag #AadhaarFail, to highlight their concerns. #AadhaarStars is a social media campaign launched by UIDAI through which residents were requested to send videos of "your child making an appeal to everyone to get their Aadhaar enrolment done and also talking about various benefits of Aadhaar."
While few videos, conforming to the theme were posted under the hashtag, proponents of privacy and other Twitter users used the hashtag to raise awareness on concerns associated with the identification service.
As per Trendsmap, #AadhaarFail was one of the trending topics in Bengaluru while some Twitter users also shared links of previous Aadhaar data leaks, and highlighted its seriousness.
Some of the tweets were- Meghnad @ Memeghnad: Never forget: Aadhaar was started as a yes/no authentication project and has now turned into entirely something else. #AadhaarFail
Harshit Gupta @hg6 tweeted “I think @UIDAI should have their #AadhaarStars telling people not to divulge any Aadhaar numbers. Esp govt departments need to be told that.”
Twitter user James Wilson @jamewils also listed out UIDAI data leaks in his tweet, “The invincible Aadhaar data is leaking (sic) profusely by the Government Depts. & agencies.. See the list.. #AadhaarFail”
Another user Manoj Mehra @ManojMehra2610 said “Is this #DigitalIndia? Govt which can't protect people's data is forcing them to use Aadhaar everywhere #AadhaarFail”
The UIDAI had in March blacklisted for ten years VLE (Village Level Entrepreneur), who enrolled M.S. Dhoni, after his Aadhar details were leaked in an accidental tweet that went viral, also raising concerns of privacy and safety.