Govt issues notice to WhatsApp over username feature

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The username feature mimics something available on other apps like Telegram and Signal, where users can chat without sharing their phone numbers. File. | Photo Credit: Reuters

WhatsApp’s new username feature — which will allow users to interact without exposing their phone numbers — is drawing skepticism from the Union government, with a senior official saying on Wednesday (July 1, 2026) that the government is worried about the potential for spam and impersonation. The government has sent a notice to WhatsApp, asking it to put the feature on hold for the time being.

“It is felt that the feature may materially increase the incidence of online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams and impersonation attacks, by enabling bad actors to solicit and message victims,” the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) said in the notice addressed to WhatsApp’s chief compliance officer in India, a copy of which The Hindu reviewed.

The government told the firm “to furnish a detailed explanation on the “usernames” feature within 3 days,” and to avoid proceeding until “detailed consultations” were held, the official said.

The username feature mimics something available on other apps like Telegram and Signal, where users can chat without sharing their phone numbers. “When someone new walks into your life – a classmate, a neighbor, someone you meet at an event – sharing a phone number can feel like a big step,” Meta, which owns WhatsApp, said in an announcement earlier this week. “That’s because a phone number is personal and it’s tied to so many parts of your life. Sometimes you just want to chat without handing over your digits.”

“The ability to use a username is not yet live and will roll out slowly later this year,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement shared with The Hindu. “To protect against impersonation, we’ve held the highest-profile names — think public figures, government entities, celebrities, verified Meta accounts — so they can only ever be claimed by the