The Username feature of Meta’s instant messaging app WhatsApp is being discussed everywhere, the government is also very worried because of this feature. This is the reason that as soon as the reservation for this feature started, the government sent a notice asking for the company’s response on this feature. According to the information received from the sources, now the company has given a reply to the government in this matter and the government will now examine the response received from the company.
Sources told news agency PTI that the Ministry of Information Technology has received WhatsApp’s reply and the government is investigating it. On the information submitted to the IT Ministry on Thursday WhatsApp No official statement has come from the side yet.
Earlier, IT Secretary S. Krishnan had said during the CII GCC Business Summit that WhatsApp’s response to the username notice was to come on Thursday. When asked whether the two other messaging platforms Telegram and Signal had responded to the notice sent on the username feature, Krishnan said: There is still some more time, so the responses have not been received yet. We will investigate this matter. After receiving the notice, a team from Meta met IT Ministry officials last Friday.
What does WhatsApp say?
The company had said that the person in front of you on WhatsApp should know your correct username to message you. We will limit how many new people an account can contact, prevent repeated attempts to guess username keys, and put in place systems to detect and remove activity that shows common impersonation and abuse patterns. Before users can reply, WhatsApp will show whether the first-time sender is a new account, contact, member of a mutual group, or from another country.
What did the government say to Meta in the notice?
In the notice, the government had asked Meta to explain why action should not be taken under the IT Act and rules regarding the new feature of WhatsApp, which may increase the incidents of cyber crime. The government also reminded Meta that as a key social media intermediary, WhatsApp is bound by due diligence responsibilities under the IT Act and Rules.
What is the government’s concern?
The central government had issued a notice to Meta last Wednesday raising questions about the proposed username feature on WhatsApp. The government had expressed concern that due to this feature, incidents of online fraud, digital arrest scam, phishing and impersonation attacks may increase significantly.
Basically, the username feature will allow people to communicate on the messaging platform without sharing their phone number. The central government had also directed the platform not to launch this feature until negotiations on this issue are completed to the satisfaction of the government.
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