WhatsApp Opens Username Reservations, India Requests a Stop Within Three Days
WhatsApp has announced in recent days the reservation of usernames, the text handles intended to replace phone numbers as the main identifier on the app, ahead of a full launch expected later in 2026. With the username activated, anyone messaging a user or business profile for the first time will no longer see their phone number, and to contact someone, they will need to know the exact handle: there is no directory or search suggestions. Users can choose a unique username for WhatsApp or claim an already used handle on Instagram or Facebook by linking the accounts, an option primarily aimed at creators, small businesses, and organizations. An optional username key is also planned, a numeric key that the correspondent must know along with the username to send the first message. The rollout will proceed gradually country by country over the coming months; reservations can be made from Settings > Account > Username.
This change affects a massive user base: WhatsApp has over 3 billion global users, and India is its largest market with over 500 million users. Warnings have already emerged from there. In an investigation into available usernames and the MeitY notice, TechCrunch found handles clearly linked to Indian public figures - "indiamodi", "shahrukh.actor", "teamamitabh", "ambanijio", "rbi_verify" (referring to Prime Minister Modi, actor Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, the Jio/Ambani group, and the Reserve Bank of India, respectively) - were still available for reservation. A similar case emerged outside the Indian context: Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance, stated on X that he was unable to reserve "cz_binance", the handle he already uses on that platform. Meta told TechCrunch that it proactively reserves usernames of public figures, government entities, and "some variants" of their names, but did not explain what criteria determine the preventive blocking of similar handles.
The Indian Government's Notice The Indian Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) sent a formal notice to WhatsApp on Wednesday, reviewed by TechCrunch, asking it to suspend the rollout in India and respond within three days explaining why regulatory action should not be initiated under Indian IT laws. According to the ministry, the feature could "substantially increase the incidence of online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams, and impersonation attacks" because it allows malicious actors to contact users without exposing their phone numbers. The public debate has also revisited a precedent from the Delhi High Court regarding a Telegram case, where the judges noted that using usernames instead of phone numbers could facilitate the spread of illicit content and complicate user identification.
Not everyone in India agrees with the ministry's approach. The Internet Freedom Foundation of New Delhi criticized the notice, arguing that it lacks a clear legal basis and risks granting the executive too broad a power over product design choices: impersonation and fraud remain real risks, but should be addressed by applying criminal law to those who commit them, not allowing a ministry to privately decide, by letter, which features Indians can use.
A Compromise Between Privacy and New Risks Security experts are divided on the overall balance of the change. Rachel Tobac, CEO of SocialProof Security, called the usernames a net gain for privacy, as they reduce the need to share phone numbers, a common vector for SIM-swap and phishing, while acknowledging that similar handles open up avenues for impersonation and that identity verification will still be necessary using the username function. The Mozilla Foundation, on the other hand, emphasized the new trade-offs introduced by the change, highlighting the risk of an increase in scams and impersonation through fake handles, and raised a question of interoperability: Meta can easily link identities across its apps, but users cannot carry the same username across competing platforms.
WhatsApp, for its part, stated that it intends to proceed gradually: the company is taking its time and listening to feedback in order to meet its goal when the feature debuts later in the year. It remains to be seen whether Meta's response to MeitY, expected within three days of the notice, will be sufficient to avoid a block of the rollout in the app's largest market.