The Centre has issued a notice to Meta over the proposed rollout of the ‘username’ feature on WhatsApp in India, expressing concerns that it could increase the risk of online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams and identity impersonation.
In the notice, the government said the feature could enable “impersonation and identity spoofing” by allowing malicious actors to adopt usernames resembling those of individuals, government agencies, financial institutions and other trusted entities.
“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. 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 notice stated.
The government has directed Meta to explain why regulatory action should not be initiated under the Information Technology Act, 2000, the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and other applicable laws for introducing a feature that could potentially facilitate cybercrime.
The notice asks Meta to submit a detailed explanation, along with supporting documents, within three days. It has also directed the company not to roll out the feature in India until consultations with the government are completed to its satisfaction.
According to Meta, the username is an optional and unique identifier that begins with the ‘@’ symbol (for example, @Name123) and can be used to message or call a user without revealing their phone number.
The company has said the username is different from a user’s display name, which does not have to be unique. For users whose phone numbers are not saved in a contact’s address book, the username will be displayed by default in direct messages, group chats and calls instead of the phone number.
Meta also said each username will be unique to a single account, and usernames reserved for businesses, government entities and public figures cannot be claimed by other users.
The proposed feature is intended to offer users greater privacy by allowing communication without sharing phone numbers. However, the government has raised concerns that, without adequate safeguards, it could be misused for impersonation and other forms of cyber fraud.
-ANI
