India asks WhatsApp to pause username feature rollout over fraud and impersonation concerns

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India has reportedly asked Meta to hold off on launching its username feature on WhatsApp in the world’s most populous country, citing concerns over fraud and impersonation.

The move comes as authorities in India grapple with a spike in cybercrime, with scammers exploiting low digital safety awareness among millions of internet users.

WhatsApp, owned by US tech giant Meta, said Monday that users worldwide would be able to connect via unique usernames instead of sharing their phone numbers, an upcoming feature it said was designed to enhance privacy.

India, WhatsApp’s largest market with more than half a billion users, voiced concerns Wednesday that the change could make it easier for fraudsters to target victims.

In a letter to Meta, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said the feature could lead to an increase in online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams and impersonation attacks, the Indian Express newspaper reported.

“There is a possibility that bad actors may claim usernames… and message other users while pretending to be someone they are not,” the English-language daily quoted a senior government official as saying.

“For those who may not be technologically aware to make out the difference, it could be a huge challenge.”

The ministry has asked Meta not to roll out the feature until consultation on the matter is over, the paper added.

Last month, Meta appointed Indian fintech titan Kunal Shah as the new head of WhatsApp.

Meta said the feature was not yet live in India and that it had already reserved usernames for public figures and verified accounts.

“To protect against impersonation, we’ve held the highest-profile names… so they can only ever be claimed by their legitimate owners,” it said in a statement.

“Users still require a phone number to use WhatsApp and we’ve built multiple layers of defense against scams into usernames.”