&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "'Not yet live': Whatsapp responds after India halts its username feature - WION factchecks claims")
A day after Indian government asked Meta to hold the rollout of their new username feature in India, WhatsApp has said that the names of public figures, government entities, celebrities and verified Meta accounts will be kept reserved. A spokesperson for the company quoted in a report by News 18 and Moneycontrol claimed that the feature has only been announced and is not yet to be available to users. "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," the spokesperson said.
Addressing concerns over misuse, the company said it has already built safeguards into the feature. “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," the spokesperson added. However, WION was able to reserve usernames of personalities on WhatsApp despite WhatsApp's claims. WION attempted reserving the username for verifying the claims made by WhatsApp and immediately cancelled the process and did not reserve any username that would amount to impersonation.
What WION factcheck found?
- Whatsapps claim that it has not yet been rolled out was false becauseit is available
- Users can also access the feature to reserve usernames
- The feature has not been halted despite Indian government's notice
- Users can reserve usernames similar to personalities increasing risk of fraud
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2. While username such as “PMOIndia” and "meaindia" were not available, changing a letter or adding numbers showed that it is available
What is Whatsapp's new feature and what Indian government said?
The Indian government has issued a formal notice to Meta, directing the technology giant to explain its new WhatsApp “usernames” feature and suspend any rollout in the country until further consultations are complete. This came after privacy experts and cybersecurity specialists raised concerns that similar-looking usernames could still be exploited for fraud. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has given Meta three days to provide a detailed report on how the privacy-focused update will work, amid mounting concerns over impersonation, online fraud and challenges to traceability.
Meta has described the change as a major step forward, with safeguards including reserved names for public figures, celebrities and government entities, limits on contact attempts and no public directory of usernames. WhatsApp head Kunal Shah, an Indian fintech entrepreneur recently appointed to the role, promoted the username feature as “a more private way to connect”.
