<p>As Jammu and Kashmir police have started questioning netizens for misusing social media platforms, people who had installed Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to circumvent the ban, have started removing the VPNs to avoid hassles.</p>.<p>Earlier this week, the police registered a First Information Report (FIR) under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against the “propagation of false information” on social media against ‘unknown’ persons.</p>.<p>Subsequently, several people have been questioned by the police for alleged misuse of social media while two domestic helps of nonagenarian ailing separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani was arrested on Tuesday evening for their alleged role in uploading videos on Facebook and Twitter.</p>.<p>“I had downloaded a few VPNs on my phone to use social media and other sites. However, I removed the VPNs after the news broke that police is calling those using social media. I don’t want to land in any trouble. Besides at some places police and army are physically checking the mobile phones of people to search VPNs,” Rayees Ahmad, a college student, told DH.</p>.<p>Rafia, another social media user, said she was forced by her parents to stop using social media through VPNs after learning about police crackdown against the social media users. “Not only social media, through VPNs I was able to access most of the websites which have been blacklisted by the government and necessary for my studies. But now I have no way to go,” she said.</p>.<p>Cyber police station and anti-militancy unit head Tahir Ashraf said misuse of VPNs comes in the ambit of illegal activity as the government has temporarily banned the use of social media in J&K. “We are probing over 1000 handles on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram that have been creating chaos and confusion, spreading fake news, glorifying terrorism, terrorists and secessionism,” he told reporters.</p>.<p>Ashraf confirmed that they questioned two people from Geelani’s residence over videos uploaded on social media, who are presently undergoing detention in Budgam police station.<br />On August 5 last year, a communication blockade was imposed in Kashmir after the Centre revoked the special status of J&K under Article 370. The communication was restored in a phased manner from September. However, high speed 4G Internet and broadband services continue to remain banned in Kashmir.</p>.<p>On January 24, after resuming 2G internet services after more than five months, the J&K administration banned the use of social media in the Valley. In several orders since then, they have whitelisted only 1485 websites, which can be surfed in Valley. The administration is repeatedly warning people to not use VPNs to access social media.</p>
<p>As Jammu and Kashmir police have started questioning netizens for misusing social media platforms, people who had installed Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) to circumvent the ban, have started removing the VPNs to avoid hassles.</p>.<p>Earlier this week, the police registered a First Information Report (FIR) under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) against the “propagation of false information” on social media against ‘unknown’ persons.</p>.<p>Subsequently, several people have been questioned by the police for alleged misuse of social media while two domestic helps of nonagenarian ailing separatist leader Syed Ali Geelani was arrested on Tuesday evening for their alleged role in uploading videos on Facebook and Twitter.</p>.<p>“I had downloaded a few VPNs on my phone to use social media and other sites. However, I removed the VPNs after the news broke that police is calling those using social media. I don’t want to land in any trouble. Besides at some places police and army are physically checking the mobile phones of people to search VPNs,” Rayees Ahmad, a college student, told DH.</p>.<p>Rafia, another social media user, said she was forced by her parents to stop using social media through VPNs after learning about police crackdown against the social media users. “Not only social media, through VPNs I was able to access most of the websites which have been blacklisted by the government and necessary for my studies. But now I have no way to go,” she said.</p>.<p>Cyber police station and anti-militancy unit head Tahir Ashraf said misuse of VPNs comes in the ambit of illegal activity as the government has temporarily banned the use of social media in J&K. “We are probing over 1000 handles on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram that have been creating chaos and confusion, spreading fake news, glorifying terrorism, terrorists and secessionism,” he told reporters.</p>.<p>Ashraf confirmed that they questioned two people from Geelani’s residence over videos uploaded on social media, who are presently undergoing detention in Budgam police station.<br />On August 5 last year, a communication blockade was imposed in Kashmir after the Centre revoked the special status of J&K under Article 370. The communication was restored in a phased manner from September. However, high speed 4G Internet and broadband services continue to remain banned in Kashmir.</p>.<p>On January 24, after resuming 2G internet services after more than five months, the J&K administration banned the use of social media in the Valley. In several orders since then, they have whitelisted only 1485 websites, which can be surfed in Valley. The administration is repeatedly warning people to not use VPNs to access social media.</p>
