Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

Opinion National Interest PoV 50-Word Edit

ThePrint On Camera Videos In Pictures

Society & Culture Around Town Book Excerpts Vigyapanti The Dating Story

More Judiciary Education YourTurn Work With Us Campus Voice

What’s in a WhatsApp username? Privacy, fraud fears & govt’s power over apps

The government’s notices to WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal over their username features have become the biggest test yet of privacy versus Delhi’s power over apps. One app ‘complied’ even without a notice.

A username is a small thing, but small features have set off big fights before. This one is shaping up to be among the bigger. Meta-owned WhatsApp announced it in a blog post on Monday. By Thursday, the government had served notices not just to Meta, but also to Telegram and Signal over similar features. It’s become one of the most revealing tests yet of how much New Delhi can police what a private messaging app ships.

The new WhatsApp global head Kunal Shah described the new feature as a “more private way to connect”. It lets one user message another inside WhatsApp without either side seeing the other’s phone number. The company says it is optional, that handles cannot be searched by strangers, and that users can switch on an extra “username key” so both pieces are needed before anyone can start a chat.

“Sometimes you just want to chat without handing over your digits,” said a WhatsApp blog, inviting people to reserve a handle ahead of a full rollout later this year.

It seems modest enough, especially when other messaging apps already have similar features. But for a platform with more than 500 million users in India, its single largest market, this is not a minor tweak. And for a government that has spent the past year tightening its watch over messaging platforms, it landed at a sensitive moment.

It is because of this collision, between a privacy feature and a state deeply wary of it, that the WhatsApp username is ThePrint’s Newsmaker of the week.

On Wednesday, the IT ministry sent a notice to WhatsApp’s chief compliance officer for India operations, asking Meta to freeze the rollout and explain the feature within three days or face regulatory action over concerns around fraud. The next day, notices went to Signal and Telegram, asking them to explain the safeguards around their own numberless messaging features.

Pushback is now trickling in from digital rights groups, while for various messaging apps, the responses have so far varied from contestation to silence to pre-emptive ‘compliance’.

Also Read: A WhatsApp message from your CEO, Rs 1.5 crore gone. How the ‘Boss scam’ is tricking Indian executives

Privacy gain vs fraud fears

It would be easy to miss why the feature matters, so it is worth stating........

© ThePrint