India is WhatsApp’s biggest market with more than 500 million users, and the standoff forces the platform to weigh compliance against mounting concerns about expanding government control of social media.
India’s IT ministry said the feature could materially increase online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams and impersonation attacks by allowing bad actors to contact victims without disclosing their phone numbers.
“We’ve announced the option for people to reserve their preferred username on WhatsApp,” a Meta spokesperson said, adding that the feature was not yet live and the company had reserved usernames for public figures, government entities and verified Meta accounts to help prevent impersonation.
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The notice comes weeks after India scrutinised Telegram over features that let users interact without disclosing their numbers. It also comes after a June home ministry report, reviewed by Reuters, warned that such privacy tools make identity detection more difficult and flagged the app’s use in cyber fraud.
Telegram lost a legal challenge last month against the temporary ban.
