GoI Directs WhatsApp to Pause Username Feature Rollout

New Delhi: The Central Government has issued a notice to Meta, stalling its proposed WhatsApp “username” feature rollout in India over impersonation and fraud fears.

The Ministry has directed the Kunal Shah-led instant messaging platform to submit a detailed explanation regarding the feature within three days. Sources revealed that the government has explicitly ordered Meta to refrain from launching the feature until they conclude official bilateral consultations.

WhatsApp Defends Feature, Outlines Protections

Responding swiftly to the government’s intervention, a WhatsApp spokesperson clarified that while users can reserve their preferred usernames, the feature is not yet live and will roll out gradually later this year.

To counter cyber-security threats, the platform confirmed it has pre-emptively locked high-profile names to prevent bad actors from exploiting them.

“To protect against impersonation, we’ve held the highest-profile names—think public figures, government entities, celebrities, and verified Meta accounts—so they can only ever be claimed by their legitimate owners,” the WhatsApp spokesperson stated, adding that the platform is also blocking lookalike derivatives of known names.

The company emphasized that phone numbers remain a core requirement to operate WhatsApp, and it has engineered multiple layers of defence against scammers directly into the username ecosystem.

“Other users need to know your exact username to message you,” the company explained. “We will limit how many new people an account can contact, block repeated attempts to guess someone’s username key, and deploy automated systems to detect and remove activity showing common impersonation and abuse patterns.”

Anti-Fraud Filters for First-Time Chats

To give users more control, WhatsApp announced that when a stranger reaches out via a username for the first time, the chat interface will display crucial context clues. The app will highlight if the sender is a new account, a saved contact, an individual with mutual groups, or a user based in a different country, allowing the recipient to make an informed decision before responding.

The government’s hard stance comes amid a growing national debate over digital safety. Earlier in the day, official sources indicated that popular messaging networks will face strict accountability if their new product updates create fresh avenues for financial fraud or misinformation.

While WhatsApp designed the username feature to boost privacy by letting users chat without disclosing their personal phone numbers, cyber-security experts had flagged risks. Analysts warn that without robust anti-abuse protocols the feature could trigger a wave of sophisticated scams targeting millions of unsuspecting Indian users.