05 - 07 - 2026

Arattai drops usernames after Centre’s push on traceability

Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu on Saturday said the username-based account feature in the messaging platform Arattai will be discontinued in compliance with regulatory directions linked to the Centre’s concerns over such identity-based communication systems.

“We will be disabling the user name based account feature in Arattai, to comply with the regulatory change. Thank you,” Vembu said in a post on X.

The decision follows the Centre’s reported intervention on proposed username-based messaging features, with authorities directing platforms to pause implementation and engage in further consultations over safety and security safeguards.

Government concerns are understood to focus on the heightened risk of impersonation, phishing, and so-called “digital arrest” scams, where fraudsters pose as banks, law enforcement agencies, or government officials to deceive users. Officials have also flagged that username-based systems could weaken traceability compared to the existing mobile number-linked verification framework used by most messaging platforms in India.

The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has reportedly sought detailed technical inputs under the provisions of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the IT Rules, 2021, as part of a broader review of identity architecture in digital communication services.

The development signals a tightening regulatory stance on alternative user identification models in messaging platforms, with companies now expected to align product features with compliance and traceability requirements.