New Delhi, July 6 -- The ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY) has extended the timeline for WhatsApp to furnish a detailed explained of its impending "username" feature, which the government thinks may materially increase the incidence of online fraud, phishing, digital arrests and scams and impersonation attacks, by enabling bad actors to solicit and message victims. WhatsApp now has time till July 9 to give the aforementioned explanation. Earlier, MeitY had given WhatsApp three days, from July 1, to submit the requested details. As previously reported by HT, in a meeting between MeitY officials and WhatsApp on July 2, the messaging platform had asked for more time citing the intervening weekend as the reason for the delay. Meta did not respond to HT's questions on the matter. In the notice issued to the messaging platform on Wednesday, MeitY asked Whatsapp to explain why action should not be initiated under the Information Technology act (2000) and IT Rules (2021) and said the company is bound by due diligence obligations as a significant social media intermediary. To be sure, WhatsApp has started the global rollout of its username feature, allowing users to reserve unique handles that can eventually be used to connect with others without sharing their phone numbers. The feature will be available to use by year-end. The company says the move is aimed at strengthening user privacy. Similarly, Telegram and Signal have also been sent notices and asked to explain the vulnerabilities in their username feature. Separately, WhatsApp's parent company Meta has also come under the government's scrutiny after a BBC report found around 30 unique Instagram advertisements allegedly promoting child sexual abuse material. The government has asked Meta to furnish a report within seven days on how such advertisements were allowed to appear on the platform....