New Delhi: The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has received formal responses from major messaging platforms regarding their “username” features, IT Secretary S Krishnan confirmed on Monday. The central government is currently examining the submissions over the week to formulate its official stance on the matter. The regulatory scrutiny intensified after the Centre issued notices to WhatsApp, Telegram, and Signal, questioning the structural safety of features that allow individuals to create custom handles and communicate without disclosing their registered phone numbers.
The issue escalated on July 1 when the government directed Meta-owned WhatsApp to halt its proposed username rollout in India until comprehensive consultations were completed to the satisfaction of the state. The IT Ministry flagged grave concerns that hiding phone numbers could exponentially increase instances of phishing, online fraud, impersonation attacks, and digital arrest scams, while severely hindering law enforcement investigations. Following the directive to WhatsApp, which boasts over 500 million users in India, MeitY extended similar inquiries to Telegram and Signal to evaluate how their existing username protocols mitigate cybercrime risks. In parallel regulatory actions, the ministry over the weekend also received a response from Meta concerning the proliferation of child sexual abuse material (CSAM) linked to platform advertisements.
In their responses, the tech companies outlined built-in security safeguards to address the government’s apprehensions. Meta explained that its upcoming WhatsApp username feature includes a specialized PIN protection system and automated mechanisms to immediately block accounts that send unsolicited messages to high volumes of strangers. The company also indicated that it has preemptively reserved high-profile usernames representing public figures, government entities, and verified entities to prevent identity theft. Concurrently, government officials indicated that MeitY is evaluating the introduction of uniform legal standards across all digital intermediaries to ensure messaging feature regulations are applied consistently rather than targeting individual platforms on a case-by-case basis.
