Though WhatsApp has said that its new Telegram-like username feature was being planned to give users greater privacy, the Centre has expressed some concerns.

Though WhatsApp has said that its new Telegram-like username feature was being planned to give users greater privacy, the Centre has expressed some concerns.

Though WhatsApp has said that its new Telegram-like username feature was being planned to give users greater privacy, the Centre has expressed some concerns.

In what could be one of its biggest changes in years, WhatsApp is planning to introduce a Telegram-like feature that allows users to connect using usernames, instead of phone numbers.

Though the company has said that this was being done to give users greater privacy, the Centre has expressed some concerns.

“It is WhatsApp that has to worry, not us,” a government official told Times of India, saying that the feature should not lead to a growth of online fraud and a compromise in user safety on the platform.

Cybersecurity has become even more of a pressing concern after not only scams that happen often on messaging apps, but also the alleged leaks of question papers ahead of the NEET-UG re-test on June 21.

Notably, this had led to the Centre placing a temporary ban on Telegram for a few days around the NEET-UG re-test, in addition to disabling the message-edit feature over that same period. 

“When you have so much digital infrastructure, data gets centralised and the risk of disruption through cyberattacks also rises," the officials added. However, they also admitted that no platform could be 100 per cent secure.

In that case of WhatsApp, the Centre has said that any kind of misuse using the username feature, such as creating fake groups or improved impersonation, would lead to regulatory action similar to what it had done in the Telegram case.

This incudes sending an official notice to Meta, the parent company of the messaging app.

WhatsApp, however, has maintained that privacy was the focus of the new feature, which also comes with built-in safeguards to detect impersonation and abuse and limits on the number of people that new users can contact via usernames.

Other features it claims would protect people online after the feature launch include a block on repeated attempts to guess usernames and keeping high-value usernames—such as those belonging to public figures and government entities—away from the hands of the public to prevent identity theft.

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