NEW DELHI: Relaxing existing blanket bans on using several social media apps for its over 11.5 lakh soldiers, Indian Army has now come out with a new policy that allows limited usage.Soldiers can now access Instagram but only for “purposes of viewing and monitoring”. They will, however, not be allowed to post views or comments. Similarly, “exchange of unclassified information of a general nature or content” has been permitted on Skype, WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal. “But information or content can be exchanged only with known persons. The responsibility for correctly identifying the recipients will lie with the users,” an officer said.Only “passive participation” has been permitted to “obtain knowledge or information” on YouTube, X, Quora and Instagram. “Uploading of user-generated content or messages is not permitted. LinkedIn can be used only for uploading a resume and obtaining information on potential employees/employers,” the officer said.The armed forces have been extremely strict with social networking sites to ensure classified information is not compromised, once even getting officers and soldiers to delete Facebook and Instagram accounts.
