India, July 2 -- Meta's latest WhatsApp feature has landed in a classic catch-22 situation. The company wants to enhance user privacy on the messaging platform by replacing phone numbers with usernames. But in India, the privacy layer is being viewed as a potential threat, as it can be easily violated by cyber criminals.

On June 29, 2026, Meta announced a phased global rollout of usernames, allowing users to reserve a unique handle beginning with an @ symbol and eventually communicate without sharing their phone numbers.

The company billed it as WhatsApp's biggest identity overhaul since launch, arguing that usernames would reduce phone-number harvesting from group chats, limit exposure to SIM-swap attacks and give users greater control...