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New Delhi: WhatsApp’s new username feature has now become a cause of tussle between the Government of India and Meta. Through this feature, users will be able to chat even without sharing the mobile number. Meta is calling it a step towards privacy, but the government is afraid of cyber fraud and fraud by hiding the identity. For this reason, the government has asked for complete details from Meta and now the last date for reply has been fixed as 9th July.

What is the new username feature?

Meta recently announced that now users will be able to create a username on WhatsApp. This means that if you have someone’s username, you can start talking to them even without knowing their phone number. The company argues that this will improve people’s privacy. Along with this, it will still be necessary to provide the number to create an account, but it will not be necessary to share the number for chat. Meta has said that it has added several security layers to prevent fake accounts and scams and has also issued a FAQ in this regard.

Danger of fraud and fake identity

Let us tell you, the government has become alert about this feature. The Ministry of Electronics and IT believes that making it easier to communicate anonymously can increase online fraud, phishing and fraud by creating fake profiles. For this reason, last week MeitY had sent a notice to Meta asking it to stop the rollout of the feature and provide complete information. Earlier the reply was sought in 3 days, but now the time has been extended to 9th July. According to HT report, government sources have confirmed the extension of a few days. According to the information, a meeting has also been held between MeitY and Meta officials on this issue, in which the company explained its security measures.

Example given by Telegram

Government officials are giving the example of Telegram. He says that the username and identity hiding features have been used in many cyber crimes. Therefore, such apprehension cannot be ignored even on WhatsApp. Actually, India is the biggest market of WhatsApp. More than 80 crore people use the app here. In such a situation, the conditions set in India may also impact the global launch of Meta.

The government wants it to be clear before launching the feature that it will not be easy to create fake identities. Now everyone’s eyes are on July 9, the day Meta will give its detailed written reply. Only after that the government will decide with what rules the username feature will be started in India.