AAP leader Manish Sisodia has raised concerns of impersonation over the new username feature of WhatsApp. He said that his name and almost all the usernames associated with party ‘AAP’ have already been reserved, due to which there is a danger of misleading people.
New Delhi [भारत] July 2 (ANI): Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader Manish Sisodia has raised concerns over possible impersonation after WhatsApp introduced the username feature. He said that many combinations of his name with ‘AAP’ have already been reserved. In a post on X on Wednesday, Sisodia said that he tried to reserve his username, but found that many combinations of his name were not available.
“As WhatsApp is rolling out usernames, I tried to reserve my username today. I fully understand that ‘Manish Sisodia’ is not a unique name, so it’s quite possible that multiple versions of my name may already be taken,” he said.
All usernames with ‘Aap’ in my name are reserved.
He further said that most of the variations using ‘Aap’ with his name are also already taken. “But what surprised me was that almost every variation using ‘Aap’ in my name has also been reserved – for example, Manish.Sisodia.AAP, Manish_Sisodia_AAP, ManishSisodiaAAP, and many such combinations,” he said.
The AAP leader said the issue raises concerns about the possibility of impersonation and misleading users. He further added, “As far as I know, there is no other Manish Sisodia associated with ‘AAP’. If someone else has reserved these usernames, it raises a real concern about impersonation and the possibility of misleading people. I urge @WhatsApp and @Meta to look into this matter and introduce a proper verification and grievance redressal mechanism so that public identities are not misused and users are protected from impersonation.”
WhatsApp clarification on government notice
Meanwhile, hours after the government issued a notice to Meta-owned WhatsApp over the proposed rollout of the ‘username feature’, the messaging service platform claimed that they have created “multiple layers of protection against scams”. The government has asked Meta not to roll out this feature until there is satisfactory consultation.
A WhatsApp spokesperson said on Wednesday that they have announced to give people the option to reserve their preferred username on the platform. “The feature of using usernames is not live yet and will be gradually rolled out later this year. To protect against impersonation, we have put the most high-profile names such as public figures, government entities, celebrities, verified meta accounts on hold so that they can only be claimed by their rightful owners, and names that are similar to well-known names are also on hold,” the statement said.
The statement added, “Users still need a phone number to use WhatsApp, and we’ve built several layers of protection against username scams: Other users need to know your exact username to message you, we’ll limit how many new people an account can contact, block repeated attempts to guess someone’s username, and have systems in place to detect and remove activity that shows common impersonation and abuse patterns.” Is.”
The spokesperson said that when the feature becomes available and “someone sends you a message using your username for the first time, we’ll show you if they’re a new account, if they’re in your contacts, if you have common groups, and if they’re in another country, so you can decide whether to respond.”
The Center expressed concern that the “username” feature could enable “impersonation and identity fraud”, and asked Meta to provide a detailed explanation within three days. (ANI)
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