WhatsApp username pause puts Meta’s advertising ambitions under the spotlight

Speculation that usernames would suddenly make businesses easier to discover on WhatsApp is premature, says an industry executive.

The Centre’s decision to halt WhatsApp’s planned username rollout over concerns around impersonation and fraud has shifted the spotlight to regulation, but the advertising industry believes the feature signals something much bigger than a new privacy setting

The government has issued a notice to Meta-owned WhatsApp over the planned feature and directed the company not to roll it out until consultations are completed. According to reports, the Ministry of Home Affairs raised concerns with the Ministry of Electronics and IT, which is assessing whether the feature aligns with India’s legal framework. Meta has also been asked to explain the feature within three days.

Announced earlier this week, WhatsApp usernames would allow users to share a unique handle instead of their phone number when initiating conversations. While Meta has framed the move as a privacy enhancement, marketers argue the bigger story is the identity infrastructure being built underneath

“What problem is this actually solving? Not privacy. That’s the PR line,” says Sindhu Biswal, CEO and Founder of Buzzlab

“This is Meta fixing its identity infrastructure. Phone numbers are a broken key. They change, they leak, they can’t be branded. The business number still shows even with a username, so don’t buy the privacy framing for brands. The real move is BSUID, a backend ID tied to a specific business that replaces phone-number mapping in the API. Meta’s building a durable customer key that doesn’t break every time someone switches SIMs. That’s it. That’s the whole thing.”

For businesses, usernames solve a long-standing branding problem, says Gopa Menon, COO and Co-founder of TheBlurr

“WhatsApp usernames are being pitched as a privacy feature, and I guess they do offer a fair bit of privacy, but for businesses this is really an identity fix. Every brand has effectively been a phone number. A username finally gives businesses something memorable and ownable.”

However, Biswal believes one of the biggest misconceptions is that usernames will suddenly make brands easier to discover

“You still need to already know someone’s exact username to message them. There’s no search, no browse, no algorithm surfacing your handle. What it buys you is consistency, one handle across Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp, with less friction at the exact moment someone was already going to message you anyway. That’s a conversion play, not a discovery play. Big difference. Don’t mix them up in a deck.”

Menon agrees, arguing that usernames are less about helping consumers discover brands than helping them reconnect with them

“There’s no search, no directory, you need the exact handle. So this isn’t about being found, it’s about not being lost. Once a customer has your username from an ad or a QR code, they can come back to you without digging through old chats. That alone makes Click-to-WhatsApp campaigns stickier, because right now a deleted thread means a lost customer, and a username-based relationship survives that.”

For Biswal, the larger significance lies in what Meta is building beneath the surface

“That’s the part worth paying attention to, not the privacy stuff,” he says. “Handles matching across platforms, BSUID as the primary key instead of phone number, that’s WhatsApp turning into infrastructure, not just a chat app. It’s the same shift every platform makes eventually. One stable ID across every touchpoint instead of a number that dies the second someone gets a new SIM.”

Akshay Mathur, Founder and CEO of Unpromptd, says usernames fit naturally into Meta’s broader commercial ambitions

“At first WhatsApp usernames may look like a privacy feature, but they’re really about identity. Until now, every business on WhatsApp has essentially been represented by a phone number. Usernames give businesses a permanent and memorable identity that consumers can recognise and trust.”

Mathur says usernames complete Meta’s broader business messaging ecosystem spanning payments, catalogues, AI, customer support and Click-to-WhatsApp advertising. Rather than turning WhatsApp into a discovery platform, he believes the feature strengthens the foundation of a much larger business ecosystem while preserving the platform’s private, permission-based nature

Ajay Varma, Managing Partner, 0101.Today, believes the shift mirrors the evolution of digital platforms over the past two decades

“Websites became a brand’s digital destination. Social media handles became its public identity. WhatsApp usernames have the potential to become the identity layer for customer conversations,” he says. “This moves WhatsApp beyond being just a messaging app and positions it as a business engagement platform.”

According to Varma, the bigger opportunity is that businesses would no longer have to rely on one-off interactions. “Campaigns no longer end with a single interaction. Instead, they establish an ongoing relationship that customers can easily revisit,” he says, adding that usernames could become the foundation for WhatsApp’s next phase of commercial growth

If the identity layer is the foundation, executives believe advertising will ultimately be its biggest beneficiary

For Biswal, the biggest significance of usernames lies not in how consumers chat with businesses today, but in what Meta could eventually measure and monetise

“This is the actual payoff,” he says. “A stable handle plus BSUID means Meta can finally connect the ad click to what happens inside the chat, without relying on a phone number that keeps changing. No identity layer, no retargeting, no lifetime value tracking inside WhatsApp. This is the track being laid before the train shows up.”

He believes the biggest beneficiary could be Click-to-WhatsApp (CTWA), one of Meta’s fastest-growing advertising products

“In the short term, a clean brand handle in the chat simply makes a business look more legitimate. That may give Click-to-WhatsApp campaigns a small lift in conversion,” he says. “The real unlock comes later, once BSUID allows Meta to retarget users and build lookalike audiences based on what happens inside those conversations. That’s when CTWA stops behaving like a one-shot funnel and starts behaving like actual performance media. We’re not there yet, but we’re getting there.”

Mathur agrees that trusted business identities could improve Click-to-WhatsApp campaigns by replacing unfamiliar phone numbers with recognisable brands, strengthening consumer confidence, brand recall and, eventually, campaign measurement

Prashant Puri, Co-Founder and CEO of AdLift, believes the opportunity extends beyond digital advertising

“WhatsApp usernames solve a much bigger business problem than privacy,” he says. “They remove the friction of exchanging phone numbers and give consumers a simpler, more memorable way to contact a brand. A username could become a permanent digital identity that businesses can promote across advertising, websites, packaging and offline campaigns.”

He adds that usernames could eventually pave the way for paid visibility, business search advertising and more advanced customer acquisition products, positioning WhatsApp as an identity and commerce platform rather than just a messaging service

The next battlefront, industry executives say, will be verification

Meta has already indicated that usernames for celebrities and prominent organisations will receive priority treatment, prompting comparisons with Instagram’s verified handles

Biswal believes brands should move quickly

“They’re reserving names for celebrities, VIPs and large organisations, with priority going to businesses whose usernames already match their Meta Verified identity or their Instagram and Facebook handles. It’s the exact same playbook Instagram followed. Which means you’ll eventually see squatting, grey-market resale and brands scrambling to secure names after the rollout. Get every client’s handle reserved now. Don’t wait until it’s official, because that’s how you lose your own name.”

Menon believes verified business usernames are “a matter of time, not an if”, given Meta’s decision to reserve names across its platforms

For Biswal, the commercial trajectory appears almost inevitable

“Meta has never built an identity layer that it didn’t eventually monetise,” he says. “There’s no search surface today, which is exactly the gap a ‘boosted handle’ or ‘promoted business’ product could fill later. Nothing has been confirmed publicly. But if you look at what’s being built—BSUID, verified handles and reserved usernames—that’s exactly the groundwork you’d lay if paid discovery was the long-term plan.”

Menon agrees. “Meta never builds identity infrastructure out of pure goodwill,” he says. “Usernames are the bait. Sponsored visibility is the toll booth that comes later, once enough businesses and users are on board.”

For now, the government’s focus remains fraud, impersonation and consumer protection. But if the rollout eventually proceeds, advertisers believe usernames will matter less because they hide phone numbers and more because they lay the foundation for Meta’s next phase of advertising, commerce and customer engagement

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