Apps like Snapchat, Telegram see record downloads
Amid apprehensions of permanent social media ban in Kashmir, youth are looking for other options to stay connected with friends and family.
Mobile apps like Telegram and Snapchat, which allow chatting and transfer of data in encrypted form along with other security features, are witnessing record downloads and gaining currency in the Valley.
Besides these, many free messaging apps provide more features, encrypted messaging and full privacy options.
The mobile Internet services in the Valley were blocked by the authorities last week as a “precautionary measure” in view of massive student protests across Kashmir against the use of “disproportionate force” by government forces on students of Government Degree College, Pulwama.
Amid Internet blockade and curbs on social media in Kashmir, several WhatsApp users and groups, who could still able to operate it, circulated messages, urging the “Kashmiri community” to support Snapchat by downloading the application on “each and every smartphone in Kashmir.”
Sensing the forthcoming curbs and not wanting to lose the race, a popular WhatsApp newsgroup in north Kashmir on Saturday circulated a message among the group members that the newsgroup would also be available on Telegram. “If anybody is interested, please send a reply on my Telegram account,” the administrator wrote, while preparing to switchover to Telegram.
Though broadband Internet services, offered by the state-owned BSNL, are functional in Kashmir, the 3G and 4G Internet services on mobiles have been blocked with an aim to prevent uploading of more videos on social networking sites.
The security agencies have “strongly recommended” permanently blocking the social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and WhatsApp.
“There is a strong recommendation from the security agencies to curb social media which aggravates the overall situation,” said a police officer.
Experts, however, suggest that blocking Facebook and WhatsApp will not prove effective as youths have ways and means available to deal with it. To make the ban effective, the experts say that the complete Internet ban is the only alternative.
“Youth, who are addicted to social media, have technology available to them to access these sites. They can hook onto these sites through VPN (virtual private network),” said Faisal H Bhat, a Delhi-based technology and camera expert.
