India Orders WhatsApp to Pause Usernames Feature, Seeks Explanation

India has asked WhatsApp to stop rolling out its new usernames feature and explain why it is being introduced, marking the latest step in the government's crackdown on messaging anonymity. The order follows a similar action against Telegram last month.

The directive came just days after WhatsApp began a phased global rollout of the usernames feature, including in India. The feature would let users pick a unique username and message others without sharing their phone number.

A government letter dated July 1 gave WhatsApp three days to respond, and clearly stated the rollout cannot continue until the government's questions are addressed.

Officials from India's IT ministry said the feature could open the door to more online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams and impersonation, since it allows people to contact others without revealing their phone number.

The same concern was raised last month when India temporarily banned Telegram over anonymity issues. Telegram later lost a legal case challenging that ban. A home ministry report from June had also warned that such features make it harder to track user identities and increase the risk of cyber fraud.

Responding to the notice, a Meta spokesperson said the company had only announced the option to reserve a username and that the feature is not live yet. Usernames for public figures, government bodies and verified Meta accounts have already been reserved to prevent impersonation, the spokesperson added.

This is the latest in a series of actions by India against online platforms, following the Telegram ban and past disputes with Elon Musk's X over content removal orders.

India is WhatsApp's largest market with over 500 million users, making this standoff a major test of how far the platform will go to meet government demands.

[Source: arynews]