As Meta-owned WhatsApp prepares to roll out a new privacy-focused feature that allows users to connect via unique usernames instead of public phone numbers, governments in Somalia and India have issued urgent warnings about potential national security and public safety risks the update may bring. The feature, set to launch globally to WhatsApp’s 3 billion monthly active users in the coming months, lets users adjust or remove their usernames at will, marking a major shift from the platform’s long-standing reliance on linked phone numbers for account identification.
For Somalia, a nation grappling with a 20-year-long brutal insurgency led by al-Qaeda-affiliated militant group al-Shabab, the new feature poses particularly acute risks. Somalia’s Communications and Technology Minister Ahmed Osman Dirie told the BBC that the change would undermine the country’s existing regulatory framework, which centers on tracking registered phone numbers to counter criminal and extremist activity.
Dirie emphasized that Somalia operates under a unique economic context: its entire financial ecosystem is heavily dependent on mobile money transactions, making the population disproportionately vulnerable to financial fraud that would be harder to trace with unvetted, untraceable usernames. Beyond financial crime, the minister pointed out that al-Shabab militants already regularly exploit WhatsApp for extremist operations, including extortion rings, propaganda dissemination, and intimidation of civilians. In 2024 alone, Somalia’s intelligence service dismantled 20 al-Shabab-linked WhatsApp groups used for criminal activity and disabled mobile data for roughly 2,500 associated phone numbers – actions that would be far more difficult to execute without linked phone number data, Dirie argued.
Somalia is not alone in its concerns. Earlier this month, India – WhatsApp’s largest single market with more than 850 million active users – raised identical objections to the feature. Indian regulators warned that allowing anonymous access via usernames would create new opportunities for bad actors to carry out online fraud, identity impersonation, and other illicit crimes, and formally requested that Meta delay the rollout until all government concerns are addressed through full consultation.
In response to the criticism, Meta has noted that the feature is not yet active, and clarified that all users will still be required to register a valid phone number to create a WhatsApp account, even after the feature launches. The company also added that the new username tool includes built-in security safeguards designed to prevent scam activity.
Despite these assurances, Dirie said the Somali government has already reached out directly to Meta to share its concerns, and is pushing for additional concrete guarantees. The minister is calling on Meta to prove that hiding phone numbers will not erode the digital traceability that Somali authorities depend on to combat crime and terrorism, and to outline specific protections tailored to Somalia’s high-risk context. “If they prove that, when we discuss if we put those safeguards in place, then we will not have any issue with rolling out the new feature,” Dirie told the BBC.
Industry analysts and security experts have weighed in on the debate, framing the conflict as a core tension between user privacy and state-level security needs. Moses Kemibaro, a Nairobi-based technology blogger focused on African digital markets, explained that the shift to usernames is a deliberate evolution of WhatsApp’s privacy model, bringing it in line with other Meta platforms such as Instagram, where user identities are not tied to public phone numbers. “It’s almost saying that this can work irrespective of the phone number and just give you a single identity,” Kemibaro noted. While he acknowledged the feature’s privacy benefits for users, he confirmed that governments hold valid concerns about the potential for an increase in scams and criminal activity, and said Meta must clearly explain to regulators how they can still trace criminal activity back to individual users even with the new username system.
Kenyan security analyst George Musamali echoed that perspective, noting that the change comes in response to long-standing user complaints about unwanted access to personal phone numbers through WhatsApp groups. Musamali also pointed out that the shift away from public phone numbers can also protect users from arbitrary surveillance by governments that target political opponents using social media data – a core priority for Meta as it faces growing global pressure to strengthen user privacy. Ultimately, Musamali argued that many governments may be jumping to premature conclusions, and that a balanced solution that addresses both privacy rights and legitimate security concerns is achievable.