India's government has asked WhatsApp to delay the rollout of its 'usernames' feature pending consultations, according to a letter seen by Reuters. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Reuters.
The letter from India's Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology requested that WhatsApp hold off on launching the new feature until it consults with the government. The ministry noted that the introduction of usernames could raise security and privacy concerns.
WhatsApp has not yet officially responded to the request. However, the company had previously stated that it was testing the usernames feature, which would allow users to communicate without sharing their phone numbers.
India is WhatsApp's largest market, with over 500 million users. The government has previously expressed concerns about WhatsApp's privacy policies.