India wants WhatsApp to halt its username rollout

India is trying to stop WhatsApp's upcoming username feature before it even launches. The country's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has sent Meta a notice arguing that usernames could increase cybercrime and should not roll out until government consultations have been completed. Critics have hit out at this letter, arguing that it has no basis in law.

On the heels of WhatsApp's username feature launch, the feature has been criticised by MeitY for facilitating "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." MeitY implies that it could initiate regulatory action against Meta for launching a feature that it believes could include cybercrimes. Meta has been given 3 days to respond.

Critics say the government is overstepping

The language of the notice is unusually forceful, but not all share MeitY's opinion.

"The notice treats the launch of a lawful feature as a wrong the company must justify. That reverses the ordinary position especially given the absence of any clear legal power that exists. MeitY does not name any provision that lets it approve a product feature before release or order one withdrawn, because there is none, and the provisions it does cite do not supply that power," The Internet Freedom Foundation criticised the notice. It argued that it had no basis in law, further explaining in a statement on X: "This matters beyond WhatsApp. A power asserted against one company by letter can be turned on any company and any feature. On this reasoning MeitY could tell a browser not to switch on a privacy setting by default, or a payments app not to add a login method, each time until it was content." 

WhatsApp's usernames have yet to go live beyond reservations, and Meta has already built safeguards into the feature, including reserving usernames for public figures and brands to reduce impersonation. Whether those measures are enough to satisfy Indian regulators remains to be seen, but the dispute could determine how quickly one of WhatsApp's biggest privacy upgrades reaches one of its largest markets.