Earlier this week, Meta-owned WhatsApp introduced the username feature, allowing its users to communicate with each other without sharing their phone numbers. The feature will roll out later this year, but WhatsApp is already allowing users to reserve their username.
The username feature raised security, privacy and impersonation concerns among many, including the Indian government, which asked WhatsApp to stop the planned rollout of the feature under the IT Act, 2000, IT Rules, 2021 and other applicable laws. You can see the pictures given below to read the letter sent by the Government of India to WhatsApp.
Government of India’s letter to WhatsApp regarding username feature. Source
In response, WhatsApp said that users still need a phone number to use WhatsApp and that it has built multiple layers of protection against scams into its username system. Additionally, to protect against impersonation, WhatsApp has reserved high-profile names (public figures, government entities, celebrities, verified meta accounts) so that they can only be claimed by their legitimate owners.
WhatsApp’s username feature lets you communicate without sharing a phone number
Here’s the full statement we received from WhatsApp regarding the matter:
“We’ve announced the option for people to reserve their favorite username on WhatsApp. The ability to use usernames is not yet live and will roll out gradually later this year. To protect against impersonation, we’ve kept the highest-profile names – public figures, government entities, celebrities, verified meta accounts – so they can only be claimed by their legitimate owners and look-alike derivatives of known names. Users can still use WhatsApp requires a phone number and we’ve built several layers of protection against scams into usernames: other users need to know your exact username to send you messages, we’ll limit how many new people can contact you from an account, prevent repeated attempts to guess someone’s username key, and put in place systems to detect and remove activity that shows common impersonation and abuse patterns when the feature becomes available and someone first contacts you through your username. When someone sends a message, we’ll show you if they’re a new account, if they’re your contact, if you have similar groups, and if they’re located in a different country. You can decide whether to respond.”
Reserving your WhatsApp username is optional, and you can do so by navigating to WhatsApp settings > Account > username Menu. If you don’t see the option to reserve your username, try again after updating to the latest version of WhatsApp.