The centre on Tuesday granted three more days to the technology giant Meta to submit its response to the concerns raised over its proposed ‘username’ feature. The new feature on WhatsApp allows users to chat without sharing numbers- which according to the government is ‘risky’.
This comes after the global tech giant sought time till July 9 to respond on the issue, pointing to the global nature of the planned rollout, they added. Reports revealed that Meta also assured the government it would not roll out the feature in India unless the matter is resolved.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology issued a notice to the parent company questioning its planned username feature on WhatsApp. The ministry had flagged concerns that this feature can materially increase online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams, and impersonation attacks. It had instructed officials to pause the release until all consultations regarding the safety of the feature satisfied the government.
A team from Meta had met MeitY officials last week following the notice summoning them. At the meeting, officials stressed that in its current form, the username feature poses major risks of impersonation on a wide scale.
A WhatsApp spokesperson had pointed out the app has built-in safeguards to prevent abuse, including locking down high-profile names so scammers can’t impersonate public figures or companies. The platform is also limiting the number of new chats a user can start at once using a handle, and it will automatically flag any first-time messages coming from an overseas account.