Government Asks Meta to Explain Use of WhatsApp Usernames

Reported By Y-Trendz 

New Delhi, July 1, 2026 — The Indian government has issued a formal notice to Meta seeking a detailed explanation of WhatsApp's upcoming username feature, directing the company to respond

within three days and to hold off on rolling out the feature in India until consultations with authorities are complete. The move comes amid mounting concern within the government over the potential for the feature to be exploited for impersonation, phishing and cyber fraud.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has asked Meta to defer the launch pending further review, according to government sources. A meeting has also been scheduled between MeitY, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and other peer-to-peer messaging platforms offering similar features, to collectively discuss concerns around username-based communication. Officials said the Home Ministry was the first to flag worries about cyber fraud risks, which it then passed on to MeitY, triggering the formal notice.

What the Feature Does

WhatsApp's new username system is designed to let users connect and chat with one another without sharing their mobile phone numbers, giving people more control over their personal information — particularly useful, Meta says, for group chats and first-time conversations with new contacts. Users can already begin reserving their preferred username by updating to the latest version of the app and visiting the newly added "Username" section under Account settings, which includes a built-in suggestion tool to help people find an available, unique handle.

Meta has also indicated that eligible users will eventually be able to align their WhatsApp username with existing Instagram or Facebook handles, allowing for a consistent identity across its platforms. The company has clarified there will be no searchable public directory of usernames, and a WhatsApp spokesperson confirmed that while username reservation has opened, the actual ability to message via username is not yet live and will roll out gradually later this year.

Government's Concerns

According to the notice — addressed to WhatsApp's Chief Compliance Officer for India — the government has asked Meta to explain why regulatory action should not be initiated over a feature it says could materially increase risks such as phishing attacks, online fraud, identity spoofing and so-called "digital arrest" scams, by allowing bad actors to approach users through deceptive usernames designed to resemble legitimate identities. The notice invokes provisions under the Information Technology Act, 2000, along with the IT (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, and other applicable laws, noting that WhatsApp is classified as both an intermediary and a "significant social media intermediary" under Indian regulations — a status that comes with enhanced due-diligence obligations.

Officials say the government's core concern is whether the feature could be exploited by scammers to mislead users, particularly given past experience with fraudulent handles on other platforms that closely mimic the names of legitimate accounts or organisations. A separate issue has also been flagged to WhatsApp: some users attempting to reserve their preferred usernames have found themselves unable to do so, raising questions about whether genuine, original users are being locked out of names they may have long been associated with.

Precedent With Telegram

The government has pointed to its recent handling of Telegram as a marker of how seriously it is treating the issue. Around the time of the NEET-UG re-examination in June, authorities had imposed a temporary ban on the Russian-origin messaging app and disabled its message-editing feature over similar misuse concerns. Sources indicate that any comparable misuse involving WhatsApp's username feature — such as the creation of fake groups or enhanced impersonation tools — could invite similar regulatory action.

Meta's Response and What's Next

Meta has not issued a detailed public response to the notice, though a company source confirmed that it had been received and that the company was engaging with the government. For now, the feature's India rollout remains on hold pending the outcome of consultations, with Meta expected to submit its formal explanation within the government's three-day window.

The episode adds to a growing list of regulatory flashpoints between New Delhi and Meta in WhatsApp's largest global market, which counts more than 500 million users in India. As the platform continues to expand beyond messaging into payments, commerce and business services, regulators have increasingly turned their attention to user privacy, intermediary compliance and consumer protection — signalling that scrutiny of new features is likely to intensify even as companies position such tools as privacy enhancements for their users.