The Centre issued a notice to Meta on Wednesday, July 1, over the controversial username feature on WhatsApp in India. The government said the feature can be used for impersonation, phishing, digital arrest scams and fraud. The Centre has instructed Meta to delay the rollout of the functionality until the government is comfortable with the measures put in place.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology has sent a notice to WhatsApp, urging the company to give a detailed explanation in the next 3 days. “You are also directed not to roll out this feature until the consultation on this point is achieved to the satisfaction of the Government,” the notice said.
The username feature will enable WhatsApp users to get exclusive usernames and interact with users without revealing their mobile numbers. The feature, if enabled, reportedly would start conversations based on usernames only, without revealing a phone number to a first-time contact.
The government has cautioned that the feature could lead to more online abuse. “It is felt that the feature may materially increase the incidence of online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams and impersonation attacks by enabling bad actors to solicit and message victims,” the ministry said.
It also said the feature may “facilitate impersonation and identity spoofing, including impersonation of individuals, public authorities, financial institutions, and government agencies, by permitting the adoption of usernames closely resembling those of genuine persons or institutions.”
Reacting to these concerns, a WhatsApp spokesperson said, “We’ve announced the option for people to reserve their preferred username on WhatsApp.”
The company said it has created several layers of protection to minimise the likelihood of being impersonated. “To protect against impersonation, we’ve held the highest-profile names like think public figures, government entities, celebrities, verified Meta accounts so they can only ever be claimed by their legitimate owners and lookalike derivatives of known names are held as well,” the spokesperson said.
However, WhatsApp clarified that the user will still require a phone number to access the app. Usernames aren't live yet and will be rolled out later this year.
Also Read: Indian Government Reviews WhatsApp Usernames as 35-Character IDs Raise Safety Concerns
Meta states that a WhatsApp user is a voluntary unique identifier beginning with the “@” sign, e.g., @Name123. It differs from a display name as usernames are unique.
Users will be able to reserve usernames from Settings, then Account, then Username. If enabled, they will be able to see the username in chats, groups and calls instead of the phone number, if the user's number has not been saved.
WhatsApp said other users must know the exact username to send a message. It will also restrict the number of new users an account can send messages to, block repeated attempts to guess usernames, and display safety indicators such as whether the sender is a new account, a saved contact, if there are common groups, or if the sender is from another country.
The government will make a decision after reviewing Meta's response and analyzing the security concerns of the feature.