India tells WhatsApp to halt usernames rollout, justify feature or face action
Key takeaways
- The July 1 letter gave WhatsApp three days to respond and barred the rollout until its consultations with the government concluded.
- Anonymity was among the concerns India cited when it temporarily blocked the messaging app Telegram last month.
- India is WhatsApp’s biggest market with more than 500 million users, and the standoff forces the platform to weigh compliance against mounting concerns about expanding government control of social media.
Why this matters: local context for readers following news across Pakistan and the region.
Add ARY News on Google AAResize India has asked Whats App to justify the implementation of a planned feature covering usernames and to freeze the rollout in its biggest market, escalating a crackdown on messaging anonymity that began with Telegram, according to a government letter reviewed by Reuters.
Earlier this week, Meta’s Whats App said it had begun a phased global rollout, including in India, of the feature, which lets users reserve a unique username and eventually message others without sharing their phone numbers.
The July 1 letter gave WhatsApp three days to respond and barred the rollout until its consultations with the government concluded.