India questions WhatsApp username feature over cyberattack fears

As reported by The Register, India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has demanded an explanation from WhatsApp regarding its new username feature, citing concerns that it could increase cyberattacks. The ministry has given the Meta-owned platform three days to respond and halt the rollout until government approval.

WhatsApp's planned username feature, which allows users to communicate without revealing their phone numbers, has raised alarms in India, WhatsApp's largest market with over 850 million users. The government fears this could facilitate cybercrimes like phishing and digital arrest scams, primarily through impersonation. MeitY invoked India's IT Act 2000 and IT Rules 2021 as the basis for its concerns. However, the Internet Freedom Foundation has argued that the ministry lacks a clear legal standing for this action, calling it regulatory overreach, similar to a previous attempt to regulate AI models.

WhatsApp maintains that it has implemented multiple safety measures, including limiting new contacts, blocking username guessing, and detecting impersonation patterns, to protect users. The platform stated that users still need a phone number to use WhatsApp and that the username feature will roll out gradually later this year with user-facing safety indicators.

Source: The Register