India asks WhatsApp to pause username feature rollout
India's government has asked WhatsApp to pause the rollout of its username feature, citing concerns over user safety and potential misuse. The feature would allow users to communicate without sharing their phone numbers. WhatsApp is reportedly reviewing the request from Indian authorities.
Background
- WhatsApp is Meta's (Facebook's) encrypted messaging app, dominant in India with over 500 million users — its biggest market globally.
- India's government has repeatedly clashed with WhatsApp over "traceability" (the ability to identify the original sender of a forwarded message), which the app's end-to-end encryption prevents.
- The new "username" feature would let users message each other without sharing phone numbers, enhancing privacy.
- India's Ministry of Electronics & IT (MeitY) asked WhatsApp to pause the rollout, reportedly because usernames could make it harder for law enforcement to trace messages back to real identities — a longstanding demand from the government under India's IT Rules, 2021.
- This is the latest chapter in a broader global tension between Big Tech's encryption and governments' push for surveillance and content moderation.