India, Dec. 1 -- A new regulation from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will affect WhatsApp, a major social media platform, as well as other comparable services such as Telegram and Signal. The department is now requiring these OTT communication apps to be continuously linked to the user's SIM card. At present, users can log in to several companion devices on platforms like WhatsApp without the SIM card being physically present in those devices.

Under the DoT's recent notification, platforms have 90 days to ensure their services are tied to customers' SIM cards. Penalties will be imposed if they fail to implement the required SIM binding. In addition, when users access web or desktop versions of these apps, the platforms must ...