The Indian government on Wednesday, July 1, asked WhatsApp to explain within three days why regulatory action should not be initiated over its planned “usernames” feature.
According to a government letter reviewed by Reuters, authorities also directed the platform not to roll out the feature in India until consultations are complete.
The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said it had taken note of WhatsApp’s announcement that it would introduce usernames, allowing users to initiate conversations without revealing their phone numbers.
“We’ve announced the option for people to reserve their preferred username on WhatsApp,” a Meta spokesperson said, adding that the feature is not yet live.
The spokesperson also said the company has reserved usernames for public figures, government entities and verified Meta accounts to help prevent impersonation.
The ministry said the feature could materially increase online fraud, phishing, “digital arrest” scams and impersonation attacks by allowing bad actors to contact victims without disclosing their phone numbers.
It also expressed concern that usernames resembling those of individuals, financial institutions or government agencies could facilitate identity spoofing and impersonation.
The move comes days after Reuters reported that India had scrutinised Telegram over anonymity features that allow users to interact without revealing their phone numbers.
In June, a Home Ministry report reviewed by Reuters said such privacy features make identity detection difficult and raised concerns over the app’s use in cyber fraud and the sharing of illegal content.
WhatsApp usernams and privacy
Earlier this week, WhatsApp announced usernames, a privacy-focused feature that will allow users to connect without sharing their phone numbers. Users will need to know a person’s exact username to initiate a conversation, while usernames will not be publicly searchable or listed in a directory.
In its response to the directive, WhatsApp said it plans to roll out the feature gradually later this year but has built safeguards to address concerns around impersonation and abuse. “To protect against impersonation, we’ve held the highest-profile names — 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 company said users will still need a phone number to use WhatsApp and that it has built multiple layers of defence against scams into usernames.
“Other users need to know the exact username to message you, we will limit how many new people an account can contact, block repeated attempts to guess someone’s username key, and have systems to detect and remove activity showing common impersonation and abuse patterns,” the WhatsApp spokesperson said.
WhatsApp also said that when the feature becomes available, users receiving a first message via a username will be shown contextual information about the sender, including whether they are a new account, are already in their contacts, share common groups or are based in a different nation, to help them decide whether to respond.
Source: The Indian Express
-Agencies
