Meta-owned WhatsApp submits its reply to a government notice concerning its proposed “username” feature, and the Indian government is reviewing the response, multiple reports say. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) had issued the notice to Meta last week after raising concerns that the feature could materially increase online fraud, phishing, digital-arrest scams, and impersonation attacks, according to reports. The feature is described as allowing users to connect and communicate on WhatsApp without sharing their mobile phone numbers, which proponents say could add privacy. Following the notice, WhatsApp asked for additional time to respond. It also assured the government that it would not roll out the feature in India until consultations and discussions are completed to the government’s satisfaction. IT Secretary S. Krishnan said the reply was due on Thursday and that the government would take a view after examining the submissions. Reports also note that similar username-related notices were previously issued to other messaging platforms such as Telegram and Signal, with timelines for their replies still pending at the time of reporting.