Overview
- The government issued a formal notice to WhatsApp on July 1 asking it not to launch a username feature until consultations are complete and received WhatsApp’s written reply late Thursday, July 9, which MeitY is now examining.
- Telegram has also submitted a written response and the ministry is reviewing both companies’ explanations of built‑in safeguards; Signal had not filed a response in early reports.
- MeitY told platforms to justify why the feature should not trigger action under the Information Technology Act, citing risks that hiding phone numbers could increase impersonation, phishing, digital‑arrest scams and other fraud.
- WhatsApp has told authorities it will keep the India rollout paused and has proposed specific safeguards such as reserving high‑profile handles, requiring a phone number to create accounts, limiting first‑time contacts, blocking repeated username guesses, and flagging first messages with contextual cues.
- Officials are discussing common standards for all messaging apps so similar username features are governed consistently and to avoid platform‑by‑platform decisions, and regulators are already scrutinising Meta and Telegram on separate compliance issues.