New Delhi, July 1: The Indian government has officially issued a legal notice to tech giant Meta, directing it to immediately pause the rollout of its proposed ‘WhatsApp Username’ feature within the country.

In the notice served to the parent company of WhatsApp, the government has demanded a comprehensive and detailed explanation regarding the technicalities of the feature within a strict window of three days. Meta has been instructed to withhold the official release of the feature until all administrative and public consultations are formally concluded.

This regulatory action comes within hours of emerging reports suggesting that the Central Government is exploring various legal remedies to restrict WhatsApp’s upcoming username framework. The state has raised serious security concerns, noting that the deployment of structural usernames could significantly escalate the risks of online impersonation and identity fraud.

The digital feature, which is scheduled for a wider release later this fiscal year, is designed to allow individual users to establish network connections utilizing unique usernames instead of disclosing their personal mobile numbers. While technology analysts agree that this shift minimizes raw phone number exposure and mitigates threats like SIM-swapping and contact scraping, they have warned that it presents critical challenges.

According to domain experts, the framework introduces fresh vulnerabilities surrounding cross-platform data shared architecture, platform integration, and verification lapses. Concurrently, a substantial section of consumers have raised apprehensions regarding the potential tracking and sharing of their personal metrics across other native Meta software products.

However, Meta has dismissed these ongoing operating concerns. A Meta spokesperson clarified that when the feature is formally integrated later this year, usernames will not alter any foundational parameters concerning how the centralized Accounts Center operates. The corporation further added that binding a WhatsApp profile with external nodes like Facebook or Instagram via the Accounts Center would remain entirely optional for the end consumer.

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