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Desk: Zoho co-founder Sridhar Vembu has announced that Arattai will shut down its username-based account feature following the Indian government’s decision to halt WhatsApp’s planned username rollout. With the move, Aratai becomes one of the first messaging platforms to publicly respond to the Centre’s new regulatory position on username-based identity. Sharing the update on

Vembu’s statement comes shortly after the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) directed Meta to stop the rollout of WhatsApp’s username feature in India. The government has directed the company not to launch this feature until negotiations with authorities are completed and concerns to cyber security and online fraud are resolved.

Zoho’s messaging platform Arattai allows users to communicate through chat, voice and video calls. Although Vembu did not specify any timeline for removing username-based accounts, his post confirms that the company will comply with the latest regulatory requirements.

WhatsApp had announced a feature that will allow users to create a unique username, allowing users to chat without sharing their mobile number. However, the Center expressed concern that the names could be used by fraudsters to impersonate banks, government agencies, businesses and public figures. Officials warned that such misuse could lead to an increase in cases like phishing attacks, financial fraud and digital arrests.