WhatsApp has received a warning from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) instructing the company to halt the implementation of its new usernames feature in India until further consultation.
Referencing the company’s public announcement of a staggered global roll-out of usernames, including in India, starting on June 29, 2026, the notification, issued to WhatsApp’s chief compliance officer, requests that WhatsApp provide an explanation within three days as to why regulatory action should not be taken.
With an optional “username key” providing an extra degree of secrecy, WhatsApp’s usernames feature allows users to register a unique handle and eventually chat one another without exchanging phone numbers.
While acknowledging the intention, MeitY’s notification contends that because the function eliminates the phone number as a fixed point of identity, it may significantly increase fraud, phishing, digital arrest frauds, and impersonation.
It particularly highlights the danger of usernames that are very similar to those of actual people, government organisations, financial organisations, and public authorities.
In addition to Rules 3(1)(b), 3(2), and 4 of the IT Rules, 2021, as well as Sections 66C and 66D pertaining to identity theft and cheating by personation, MeitY has cited Section 79 of the Information Technology Act, 2000. Additionally, WhatsApp has been instructed to wait till the government is happy with the consultation before releasing the function in India.
WhatsApp has previously stated that it has implemented a number of security measures, including the restriction of names that resemble public people, government agencies, and verified accounts, the preservation of current Instagram and Facebook identities for their owners, and automated algorithms that keep an eye out for questionable activities. Limiting unsolicited contact is another goal of the current sender-context warnings and the optional username key.
MeitY’s legal standing for this order is disputed by several. The Internet Freedom Foundation claims that the notice lacks a clear legal foundation, claiming that Sections 66C and 66D target identity thieves rather than platforms whose tools are abused by others and that Section 79 is a safe harbour provision governing platform liability rather than a licensing power over what features a company may ship.
The group alluded to a similar instruction that MeitY sent to AI companies in March 2024, requiring prior authorisation before deploying under-tested models, which was retracted within two weeks after similar criticism, and urged MeitY to specify the precise legal basis behind the order.
“My instinctive reaction to GOI intervening in WhatsApp’s usernames was that it is unwarranted,” wrote Nitin Pai, Director of The Takshashila Institution, in a post on X. After some thought, I believe there are grounds. WhatsApp is a public infrastructure, and usernames have the potential to cause widespread issues downstream.
Although the function itself cannot go live for messaging until the government’s concerns are resolved, WhatsApp’s username reservations are still available in India for the time being.
