WhatsApp Usernames Delayed in India as Government Extends Meta Reply Deadline

The ministry has also asked Meta to justify why it shouldn't face action under the IT Act and the 2021 intermediary guidelines over the rollout.

The Indian government has extended Meta's deadline to July 9 for responding to concerns over WhatsApp's proposed usernames feature amid privacy and security risks, with further action possible based on the reply. Meta paused the rollout while consultations continue.

The government has granted Meta until July 9 to respond to its notice on its WhatsApp’s proposed usernames feature. The extension, from the originally planned July 6 deadline, came after a Meta delegation met officials from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) and asked for more time to reply, according to official sources.

Officials at MeitY said that the decision was also influenced by the fact that the ministry has issued simialr notices to Telegram and Signal. It wants to keep its engagement with all three platforms on a comparable timeline rather than conclude WhatsApp’s case ahead of the others.

“Our position is fairly clear-cut, WhatsApp should not go live with usernames in India until the ministry gives an explicit go-ahead, or, failing that, until Meta gives a firm voluntary commitment to hold off,” the official said.

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So far, indications point towards the latter, a voluntary pause rather than regulatory approval. However, much will depend on the company’s response due on July 9, officials said.

Sources at Meta said WhatsApp will not launch usernames in India while consultations with the government are underway. They added that if Meta’s July 9 submission doesn’t satisfy officials, the feature could end up being kept out of India altogether, at least for the foreseeable future.

The username system would let WhatsApp users message each other without exchanging phone numbers, a model already familiar from Telegram, Signal, X and Instagram.

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MeitY’s original notice flagged worries that removing the phone-number layer could make it considerably harder for investigators to trace bad actors, particularly those operating from overseas numbers, and warned of heightened risks around impersonation, phishing and so-called digital arrest scams.

The ministry has also asked Meta to justify why it shouldn’t face action under the IT Act and the 2021 intermediary guidelines over the rollout.

WhatsApp, unveiled usernames last Monday as a new way for users to connect without sharing their mobile numbers. The feature, which is being rolled out globally in phases, is intended to enhance privacy by allowing users to communicate through unique handles instead of phone numbers, as per the platform.

Separately, MeitY has also sent Meta a notice over paid advertisements on Instagram that a media investigation alleged were directing users toward illegal child sexual abuse material. This has been reported either via coded language and imagery that routed viewers to external channels.

Electronics and IT Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw is understood to have directed the ministry to summon Meta and seek a detailed explanation of how the advertisements cleared review. Meta has said it removed the ads and disabled the associated accounts once alerted, and maintains it does not knowingly permit such content on its platforms.