India widens crackdown on anonymous messaging with Telegram and Signal notices

Details: Manny Pham; Category: Devices & Platforms; 06 July 2026; 345 views

India has increased its policing of online technology platforms as it has reportedly demanded messaging services Telegram and Signal explain their safeguards around users keeping their phone numbers hidden, after WhatsApp saw its usernames rollout paused.

Scrutiny from the Indian government began last month when India blocked Telegram to stop the spread of national medical exam papers, which then led to vetting processes across other services.

Reuters reported Telegram and Signal were asked on July 2 to explain how users are protected from impersonation and misuse through features that allow people to interact without revealing their phone numbers.

The latest notices follow action against WhatsApp earlier this week, when India’s IT ministry ordered the Meta-owned platform to halt the rollout of its planned username feature and justify it within three days or face regulatory action, according to a government letter seen by Reuters.

India has argued that anonymity through usernames could fuel online fraud, phishing, digital arrest scams and impersonation attacks.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has repeatedly clashed with global technology companies over online regulation. It has previously disputed content takedown orders with X and earlier this year tightened rules requiring platforms to remove government-flagged content within three hours, down from the previous 36-hour deadline.

Digital rights campaigners have criticised the government’s latest move. The Internet Freedom Foundation called on the IT ministry to withdraw the notices sent to WhatsApp, Telegram and Signal, arguing the notice to Signal, an encrypted messaging service widely used by journalists and activists, threatened protected speech.

“This is a dragnet, it is widening, and it has no basis in law,” the group said.