The government is making Aadhaar linking mandatory for many schemes and services including bank accounts and mobiles numbers. But in an unprecedented move, Facebook is now asking to enter your name based on your Aadhaar card while signing up for a new account. Even though this step is not mandatory, it's the first time Facebook is asking for a specific ID while registering.

This was first noticed on Twitter by Srinivas Kodali:

Just what you need @facebook wants you to enter your name as exactly in your #Aadhaar card.https://t.co/qkOCfYf6eE pic.twitter.com/9nrszl5rsb — Srinivas Kodali (@digitaldutta) December 26, 2017

"We want to make sure people can use the names they're known by on Facebook, and can easily connect with friends and family. This is a small test where we provide additional language when people sign up for an account to say that using the name on their Aadhaar card makes it easier for friends to recognise them. This is an optional prompt which we are testing, people are not required to enter the name on their Aadhaar card," a Facebook spokesperson said in an email response to Killer Features.

We at Killer Features were able to reproduce the screen while opening the registration page on Jio network. The rollout seems to be inconsistent as a different screen showed up on WiFi network. Facebook has given a list of IDs which are accepted to verify your name, but it has never mentioned any specific ID before now.