Aam Aadmi Party leader Manish Sisodia has expressed concern over the possibility of duplication (having similar names) after the launch of WhatsApp’s username reservation feature. He said that many usernames linking his name with ‘AAP’ have already been booked.
In a post on He said, “After the introduction of the username feature of WhatsApp, I tried to reserve my username today. I fully understand that ‘Manish Sisodia’ is not a unique name, so it is possible that many versions of my name may have already been taken.”
He further said that most of the variations linking his name with ‘AAP’ had already been claimed. “I was surprised to see that almost all the variations using my name with ‘AAP’ – like Manish.Sisodia.AAP, Manish_Sisodia_AAP, ManishSisodiaAAP and similar combinations – were also already reserved,” he said.
The AAP leader said this situation raises concerns about duplication and the possibility of misleading users. “As far as I know, there is no other Manish Sisodia associated with AAP. I request WhatsApp and Meta to look into this matter and implement a robust verification and grievance redressal system to prevent misuse of public identities and protect users from scams by others using their names.”
WhatsApp’s response to Manish Sisodia’s claim
According to a report in Economic Times, Manish Sisodia said that despite repeated attempts, he was not able to get his desired username. In response, WhatsApp has clarified that usernames similar to celebrities’ names can only be reserved for their original account holders. The company has rejected claims that people are reserving popular or celebrity usernames. This clarification was given in a FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) released by the Meta-owned messaging platform regarding its controversial username feature.
The Central Government had recently issued a notice to Meta regarding a new feature of WhatsApp. The government is concerned that this feature could significantly increase the incidence of online fraud, phishing, “digital arrest” scams, and impersonation attacks. The government has directed the platform to disable this feature until negotiations on this matter are completed to the satisfaction of the government.
