Last Wednesday, the Centre issued a notice to Meta, questioning the planned username feature on WhatsApp, flagging concerns that it could increase online fraud, phishing, and impersonation attacks. The government directed the platform to pause the feature until consultations are completed to its satisfaction. As a result, Meta-owned WhatsApp has been granted a three-day extension to submit its response on the contentious feature, with the original deadline being Friday. The username feature, which allows people to communicate without sharing their phone numbers, has raised concerns among government officials. A team from Meta met with IT Ministry officials last Friday to discuss the issue. WhatsApp has assured the government that it will not roll out the feature in India until discussions are complete. The company has built multiple layers of defence against scams into usernames, including limiting how many new people an account can contact and blocking repeated attempts to guess someone’s username key. The government has also sent notices to Telegram and Signal, raising questions about their existing username features and how they address concerns related to fraud and impersonation risks. With 50 crore users in India, WhatsApp’s response to the government’s notice is eagerly awaited. The IT Ministry’s actions come as part of a broader effort to regulate social media intermediaries and protect users from cybercrimes.
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📰 Source: Siasat Gulf