The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) on July 1 directed Meta-owned WhatsApp to halt the rollout of its upcoming username feature in India, citing concerns that it could increase cyber fraud, phishing, impersonation, and identity spoofing.
The ministry has asked the company to submit a detailed explanation of the feature, supported by relevant documents, within three days.
In a notice sent to WhatsApp’s Chief Compliance Officer for India, the ministry instructed the company not to launch the feature until consultations with the government are completed “to the satisfaction of the Government.”
Earlier this week, WhatsApp announced that it had begun a phased global rollout of usernames, including in India. The feature allows users to communicate without sharing their phone numbers by reserving unique usernames.
MeitY said the feature could have unintended security consequences.
“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 notice said.
The ministry further warned that the feature could lead to identity spoofing.
“Furthermore, this feature may facilitate impersonation and identity spoofing, including impersonation of individuals, public authorities, financial institutions, and Government agencies, by permitting the adoption of usernames closely resembling those of genuine persons or institutions,” the notice added.
The government also reminded WhatsApp that, as a significant social media intermediary under India’s IT Rules, it is required to meet due diligence obligations under Section 79 of the Information Technology Act and the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
It warned that the directive was issued “without prejudice to any other action” that may be taken by the government or law enforcement agencies under existing laws.
Responding to the notice, a WhatsApp spokesperson said the username feature is not yet live and will be introduced gradually later this year.
“We’ve announced the option for people to reserve their preferred username on WhatsApp,” the spokesperson said in a statement. “The ability to use a username is not yet live and will roll out slowly later this year.”
The company said users will still need a phone number to register for WhatsApp and argued that it has built several safeguards into the feature to reduce abuse.
“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 their legitimate owners and lookalike derivatives of known names are held as well,” the spokesperson said.
WhatsApp added that users will need to know another person’s exact username before initiating a conversation. It also said it will limit how many new people an account can contact, block repeated attempts to guess usernames, and use automated systems to detect impersonation and abuse.
The company said that before users respond to a first-time message, WhatsApp will indicate whether the sender is a new account, an existing contact, shares mutual groups, or is located in another country.
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