Meta responds to government notice over WhatsApp username feature row
WhatsApp sought more time to respond, assuring the government it would not launch the username feature in India before discussions conclude.
- WhatsApp submitted its reply to the IT ministry on the “username” feature; the government is reviewing it.
- The Centre had warned the feature could increase fraud, phishing and impersonation risks and barred launch until consultations finish.
- WhatsApp says usernames aren’t live, phone numbers remain required, and it will hold high-profile names, limit new contacts and flag first-time senders.
- Notices were also sent to Telegram and Signal; Meta and Telegram face additional regulatory scrutiny over other content issues.
New Delhi — A fresh chapter opened this week in the growing regulatory tussle between India and Meta after WhatsApp submitted its formal reply to a government notice over the messaging app’s proposed “username” feature. The information technology ministry received the response on Thursday, July 9, and officials are now examining the company’s explanations and safeguards. The exchange follows an earlier government injunction that WhatsApp should not roll out the feature in India until consultations with authorities are concluded to their satisfaction.
At the heart of the dispute is a simple idea with complex consequences: allowing users to communicate on WhatsApp without sharing their phone numbers, by using public usernames. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology flagged the proposal as one that could “materially increase” risks of online fraud, phishing, digital-arrest scams and impersonation attacks. Given WhatsApp’s vast user base in India — around 50 crore people — the government argued that even small changes to how people discover and connect with others could have outsized social and security implications.
Meta met ministry officials last week after being formally summoned, and WhatsApp later requested extra time to prepare its written response. In its reply, which the ministry is now reviewing, the company reiterated that the username feature is not yet live in India and committed not to launch it until the consultations are complete. The platform also outlined measures it says are designed to limit abuse, including holding high-profile and verified names to prevent fake claims, restricting how many new people an account can contact, and detecting patterns of impersonation automatically.
WhatsApp pointed out that phone numbers would still be required to register an account, and stressed that first-time messages from unknown users will carry contextual markers — whether the sender is a new account, a contact, a mutual group member, or based in another country — to help recipients decide whether to respond. The company said it would also block repeated guesses of username keys and use systems to detect and remove accounts displaying common abuse patterns.
IT Secretary S Krishnan said on the sidelines of the CII GCC Business Summit that replies from WhatsApp were due on Thursday, and that responses from other messaging platforms — Telegram and Signal — were still pending. The ministry had dispatched notices to both platforms as well, seeking clarity on how existing username systems are being governed and how they mitigate fraud and impersonation risks.
Beyond technical fixes, the issue has become emblematic of a broader regulatory agenda. The government reminded Meta that WhatsApp qualifies as a significant social-media intermediary and must observe due-diligence obligations under the IT Act and related rules. That legal framing opens the door to potential consequences if regulators conclude the platform’s safeguards are inadequate.
Meta and Telegram have recently faced other lines of scrutiny in India as well. The IT ministry issued a stern notice to Meta over child-sexual-abuse material appearing in Instagram ads, while Telegram was directed to curb the proliferation of pirated films and OTT content on its platform. Together, these actions signal an intensified regulatory focus on how large tech firms manage content and user-safety risks in India.
For everyday users, the back-and-forth may seem abstract, but the practical stakes are real. A username system that makes message initiation easier could be convenient for public figures and businesses, but regulators worry about the downstream harms — scams, impersonations and privacy breaches — that could arise at scale. As officials study WhatsApp’s submission, both sides will be watching for a resolution that balances innovation with safety.