Jammu and Kashmir: Several ‘auto-exit’ from WhatsApp, now worried about losing important data

As communication blackout continues in Jammu and Kashmir, several WhatsApp users have auto-exited the app due to company policy. They are in fear of losing personal data.

According to a report in The Hindu, Dr Khursheed Ahmad who is employed in Mumbai told his family members living in Srinagar on Wednesday that all his relatives have suddenly exited the family WhatsApp group. Ahmad is among several WhatsApp users who have auto-exited due to the social media platform’s company policy.

“The data on the group came to a halt on August 5. We used to share wedding and birthday pictures and inform each other about our well being. All pictures are gone,” said Dr Ahmad.

Nazia Kareem, a resident of Khanyar, who was in touch with a US-based doctor about his father’s rare illness, said she fears she might have lost important medical records and prescriptions saved on the application. “I am not sure if the line-of-medical treatment saved on WhatsApp will be there once I re-register myself,” she said.

“To maintain security and limit data retention, WhatsApp accounts generally expire after 120 days of inactivity. Those accounts automatically exit their WhatsApp groups. People will need to be re-added to groups,” WhatsApp said in a statement.

“Kashmir contacts automatically ‘exiting.’ I know they would not have been able to see my messages anyway, but this is heartbreakingly symbolic,” wrote Sabah Hamid, a Twitter user, living outside Kashmir.