look news india
A huge crisis is looming on the world’s most popular messaging app WhatsApp. The Government of India has completely red flagged the ‘Username’ feature which parent company Meta was calling a historic ‘game-changer’ step for users’ privacy. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has sent a very strict legal notice to Meta directing it to immediately stop the rollout of this feature in India. The government fears that by taking advantage of this feature, cyber criminals and scammers can make crores of innocent people of the country victims of their fraud. The government has asked for a detailed and concrete report on this entire matter from Meta in a very strict tone within just 3 days.
What is WhatsApp’s new ‘Username’ plan, which will change the entire chatting?
Actually, WhatsApp was working on such an advanced feature for a long time, after the introduction of which there is no need to share your personal mobile number to chat with any unknown person. Just like Telegram and Signal, users could choose and reserve a unique ‘Username’ (e.g. @Name123) within the app. Its biggest advantage was believed to be that while in group chat or talking to new people, your phone number would remain completely hidden and you would get a strong layer of privacy. But with the advent of this privacy tool, security agencies have become alert.
The government tightened its reins due to the threat of ‘digital arrest’ and disguise.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the IT Ministry believe that as soon as this number hiding feature goes live, the risk of ‘impersonation’ and identity theft will increase manifold. Fraudsters can easily create a lookalike username of any big politician, renowned government institution, bank or celebrity. After this, they will target common people and portray themselves as big government officials or police commissioners and carry out dangerous scams like ‘digital arrest’, phishing and online fraud which are going on these days. The government has reminded Meta of its ‘Intermediary Due Diligence Obligations’ responsibilities under the IT Act 2000 and IT Rules 2021.
Boss of Paytm and Mobikwik also gave a big warning
As soon as this matter came to light, veterans of the Indian tech industry have also expressed concern over the social media platform X. Paytm founder Vijay Shekhar Sharma warned that if this feature is introduced without any strict security cover, then it will become a huge source of scams. People will not be able to differentiate between real and fake (similar sounding) usernames, which will make fraud very easy. Mobikwik CEO Bipin Preet Singh also called it a bad idea and said that it will lead to a wave of fraud and identity theft.
Meta’s security cover: Celebrities and government names already reserved
WhatsApp spokesperson has given official clarification on this big and strict action of the government. The company says that they are not making this feature live yet and it will be rolled out very gradually (Phaseded Rollout) at the end of the year. The company has made many strict arrangements to maintain privacy and security. According to Meta, the usernames of all the big public figures, government departments, celebrities and verified accounts of the country have already been ‘held’ i.e. reserved so that no one can misuse them. Apart from this, if someone messages someone for the first time with a new username, WhatsApp will automatically show the context on the screen whether the account is new, belongs to another country or has any common group or not, so that the user can decide for himself whether to reply or block.
Will this feature be banned forever in India?
According to a senior government official, very strict risk assessment of this feature will be done for the next few days. The government has made it clear that it cannot be launched in India until the entire discussion on this issue is completed to the government’s ‘satisfaction’. If Meta’s security arrangements and methods of tracking criminals do not meet Indian laws and security standards, then the rollout of this feature can be completely banned in India forever.