WhatsApp begins username rollout amid Indian regulatory scrutiny

WhatsApp has begun rolling out username reservations ahead of a broader launch planned for later this year. The new feature, which allows users to connect without sharing their phone numbers, is already drawing regulatory scrutiny in India, the platform’s largest market with more than 500 million users. While parent company Meta claims the username feature improves privacy, security experts and regulators warn that the shift is raising impersonation concerns.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), the Indian government agency regulating IT, sent a notice to WhatsApp on Wednesday from New Delhi. In the notice, MeitY warned that the feature could “materially increase the incidence of online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams and impersonation attacks” by enabling bad actors to contact users without exposing their phone numbers. The ministry also warned that usernames could facilitate the impersonation of individuals, public authorities, financial institutions, and government agencies by allowing handles that closely resemble genuine organizations. Consequently, MeitY directed WhatsApp to explain why regulatory action should not be initiated under India’s IT laws and asked the company not to roll out the feature until consultations are completed.

The regulatory intervention has drawn pushback from digital rights advocates in New Delhi. The Internet Freedom Foundation, a New Delhi-based digital rights advocacy group, argued that private regulatory letters are an inappropriate way to dictate product design. “Impersonation and fraud are real risks, but they are met by enforcing the criminal law against those who commit them. They are not met by MeitY deciding, in private and by letter, what features Indians may use,” the group stated.

Security experts and organizations also highlight the complex trade-offs of the new feature. Rachel Tobac, chief executive of SocialProof Security, noted that while usernames are a great way to avoid leaking phone numbers to strangers, it remains important to verify identity within the username function. Additionally, the Mozilla Foundation commented that the introduction of usernames is likely to bring new tradeoffs, including potentially increased scams and impersonation from fake handles.

Why it matters

The conflict highlights the tension between platform-led privacy features and the regulatory realities of operating in massive, fraud-sensitive markets like India, where government oversight is increasingly proactive.