Thursday, July 2, 2026 - India has reportedly asked Meta to hold off on launching its username feature on WhatsApp in the world's most populous country, citing concerns over fraud and impersonation.
The move comes as authorities in India grapple with a spike
in cybercrime, with scammers exploiting low digital safety awareness among
millions of internet users.
WhatsApp, owned by US tech giant Meta, said Monday that
users worldwide would be able to connect via unique usernames instead of
sharing their phone numbers, an upcoming feature it said was designed to
enhance privacy.
India, WhatsApp's largest market with more than half a
billion users, voiced concerns Wednesday that the change could make it easier
for fraudsters to target victims.
In a letter to Meta, the Ministry of Electronics and
Information Technology said the feature could lead to an increase in online
fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams and impersonation attacks, the Indian
Express newspaper reported.
"There is a possibility that bad actors may claim
usernames... and message other users while pretending to be someone they are
not," the English-language daily quoted a senior government official as
saying.
"For those who may not be technologically aware to make
out the difference, it could be a huge challenge."
The ministry has asked Meta not to roll out the feature
until consultation on the matter is over, the paper added.
Last month, Meta appointed Indian fintech titan Kunal Shah
as the new head of WhatsApp.
Meta said the feature was not yet live in India and that it
had already reserved usernames for public figures and verified accounts.
"To protect against impersonation, we've held the
highest-profile names... so they can only ever be claimed by their legitimate
owners," it said in a statement.
"Users still require a phone number to use WhatsApp and
we've built multiple layers of defense against scams into usernames."
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