The Indian government has ordered Meta to suspend the rollout of its new WhatsApp username feature, according to an official notice directed at the company, which must respond within three days. The move signals a regulatory escalation over the feature, which allows users to message without sharing their phone number.
The Indian government has ordered Meta to pause the rollout of its new WhatsApp username feature, according to an official notice reported by an Indian government source. The notice, which gives Meta three days to respond, represents a significant regulatory intervention in the feature's deployment. WhatsApp announced unique usernames earlier this year, allowing users to message without sharing or revealing their phone number, a major privacy and security shift for the platform. An earlier viral warning, as The Zioneer reported, had already urged users not to set their real names as WhatsApp usernames, citing privacy concerns. The Indian order is a direct escalation from the earlier advisory, converting a public alert into a formal government action. Meta has not yet responded publicly. The outcome of the three-day response window will determine whether the feature can proceed in India, one of WhatsApp's largest markets with over 500 million users.
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