India Puts WhatsApp’s New Username Feature on Hold 

The Indian government has asked WhatsApp to put its upcoming feature usernames on hold following wide concerns related to privacy and security. 

For the uninitiated, WhatsApp recently teased a new feature called “usernames” which allows users to interact with each other without sharing their phone numbers. It also asked users to claim their unique usernames. 

The move, however, drew wide concerns with many highlighting potential risks of rise in impersonation, spam and cybercrime through Whatsapp. 

The government in its notice to WhatsApp said 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.”

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“Furthermore, this 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,” the letter added. 

In addition to seeking a detailed explanation on the new feature within three days of receiving the letter, it also directed the company not to roll out the feature until consultation on the point is achieved to the satisfaction of the government. 

Responding to the criticism, a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement: 

“We’ve announced the option for people to reserve their preferred username on WhatsApp. The ability to use a username is not yet live and will roll out slowly later this year. 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. Users still require a phone number to use WhatsApp and we’ve built multiple layers of defense 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. When the feature becomes available and someone sends you a message for the first time via your username, we will show you if they’re a new account, if they’re your contact, if you have groups in common, and if they’re based in a different country, so you can decide whether to respond. ” 

The controversy comes shortly after WhatsApp appointed Cred founder Kunal Shah as the company’s next head. Shah will succeed Will Cathcart, who has led the instant messaging platform since 2019.