🚀 Business & Startups🇮🇳 India
India Puts WhatsApp Usernames On Hold Over Scam Fears
mint - companies·Thursday, 2 July 2026
India's IT ministry has directed Meta to pause the rollout of WhatsApp's new username feature in India, giving the company three days to submit an explanation. The government is concerned the feature could be misused to impersonate public figures and run scams. Meta has responded saying it has built multiple layers of defense against scams into the feature, and that users will still need a phone number to use WhatsApp.
Why It Matters
WhatsApp is used by hundreds of millions of Indians — any change to how the app works, or how scammers could exploit it, affects everyday digital safety.
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