WhatsApp is rolling out usernames in beta on Android and iOS, enabling messaging without exposing phone numbers, though signup still requires a number 🔐
Usernames allow 3–35 chars, optional 4-digit keys, and Meta linking, reflecting partial privacy gains but continued centralized identity control 🧩

🔗 https://9to5google.com/2026/04/08/whatsapp-username-support-rolling-out/

#TechNews #WhatsApp #Meta #Messaging #Privacy #Usernames #OpenTech #DataProtection #Security #DigitalRights #Encryption #FOSS #Transparency #BigTech #OnlineIdentity

A hope of mine is to one day have accounts without permanent usernames.
When you delete an account they keep your username "When you delete an account they keep your ****name".
There has to be an alternative to usernames, something not so permanent, any ideas?

#Accounts #Hope #Question #Usernames

That usernames could one day be reusable, erasable, irrelevant is my hope, Decentralized Identifiers (DID) with DID usernames won’t matter, identity won’t be permanent, deletion will be real, platforms will let people start over, a full 100% deletion usernames included.

#Hope #Technology #Usernames

#SoundCloud #DataBreach

In December 2025, @soundcloudsaid announced it had discovered unauthorised activity on its platform.

The incident allowed an attacker to map publicly available SoundCloud #profiledata to #emailaddresses for approximately 20% of its users.

The impacted data included 30M unique email addresses, names, #usernames, avatars, follower and following counts and, in some cases, the user’s country.

https://haveibeenpwned.com/Breach/SoundCloud

149 Million #Usernames and #Passwords Exposed by #Unsecured Database

This “dream wish list for criminals” includes millions of #Gmail , #Facebook , banking logins, and more. The researcher who discovered it suspects they were collected using infostealing #malware.
#security #privacy

https://www.wired.com/story/149-million-stolen-usernames-passwords/

#mwgic #2026 #WhatsApp #Privacy #Usernames #Handles

https://www.androidpolice.com/whatsapp-username-development/

Engadget: X’s handle marketplace is open and there are some… interesting names if you’re willing to pay. “After previewing its plans to open a marketplace to “redistribute” dormant handles last month, X has made the feature available to all Premium+ subscribers on the platform. The feature allows subscribers to request new handles that up to now have been unavailable because they belonged to […]

https://rbfirehose.com/2025/11/22/engadget-xs-handle-marketplace-is-open-and-there-are-some-interesting-names-if-youre-willing-to-pay/