WhatsApp just launched usernames and is acting like they invented privacy.
Privacy....? From Meta....? Come One !
This is the same company that's been at the center of privacy controversies for years, and now they want everyone to believe they're the ones leading the privacy movement because they added usernames?
This is the same company that literally tells you your chats and data may be used across its ecosystem in different ways, and it's the same company that's been center by privacy controversies for years after Alphabet. Now they want everyone to believe they're the ones who leading the privacy movement because they added so called usernames?
So forgive me if I don't buy the "we care about your privacy" marketing. They care about privacy? Yeah... my ass.
Even Zuckerberg's first well-known project, ZuckNet, was built for his father's dental clinic. Fast forward to today, and Meta has become one of the biggest companies associated with data collection and privacy controversies
Their entire company has spent years copying features from other companies, wrapping them in a shiny marketing campaign, and calling it innovation. List are such like this :
**Instagram Stories** → Snapchat Stories (Snapchat: 2013, Instagram Stories: 2016)
**Facebook Stories** → Snapchat Stories
**WhatsApp Status** → Snapchat Stories
**Instagram Reels** → TikTok (TikTok became mainstream before Reels launched in 2020)
**Facebook Reels** → TikTok
**Threads** → X (formerly Twitter) (Launched as a text-based competitor to X)
**WhatsApp Channels** → Telegram Channels (Telegram launched Channels in 2015; WhatsApp in 2023)
**Instagram Broadcast Channels** → Telegram Channels (Conceptually very similar)
**WhatsApp Usernames** → Telegram Usernames (Telegram has had usernames since 2013/2014; WhatsApp launched them in 2026)
And now usernames? Seriously?
Telegram has had usernames since 2014. Discord has them. Signal has them. Plenty of apps have had this feature for years.
But Meta rolls it out in 2026 and suddenly it's a "masterstroke" and "innovation."
What are their CEO, executives, and even Zuckerberg smoking these days? Because if copying a decade-old feature and acting like you invented it counts as innovation, I genuinely need the number of their dealer.
Good feature? Absolutely.
Innovation? Not even close.