WhatsApp is rolling out a new Username feature that will let people start chats without sharing their mobile numbers. The company has already opened username reservations globally, and the rollout will expand gradually across countries over the coming months.

The feature is aimed at improving privacy and making it easier to connect with new people, such as classmates, neighbours, event contacts, or parents in school and sports groups. WhatsApp says the change is not meant to work like Instagram or X, because usernames will not be public or searchable in a directory.

How it works

Users will be able to create a unique username made up of 3 to 35 characters using lowercase letters, numbers, dots and underscores. Once set, the username can be changed or removed later if needed. New contacts will be able to message a user through the username instead of seeing the phone number.

WhatsApp says existing chats will not be affected. People who already have your number saved will continue to chat with you as before, while the phone number will still be required to create and use the account.

Privacy and safety

The company will not provide a public username search or suggestion system, so someone can contact you only if they know your exact username. WhatsApp is also introducing an optional Username Key, which adds an extra layer of security by requiring a special key before someone can start a first-time chat.

This extra step is designed to reduce spam and unwanted messages. Blocking, reporting and end-to-end encryption will remain unchanged under the new system.

For creators and businesses

WhatsApp says creators, businesses and organisations will be able to use the same username across WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook wherever available. Some high-profile usernames tied to celebrities or major brands may be reserved to prevent impersonation.

For businesses, the feature could make customer communication easier without exposing personal contact details. For users, the biggest change is simple: new conversations may soon begin with a username instead of a phone number.

168-megawatt facility to come up in Gujarat within two years; partnership covers clean energy, construction, and managed services

Meta is joining hands with Reliance Industries to build India's first artificial intelligence-enabled data centre, a development that marks a significant step in the country's push to develop large-scale domestic AI infrastructure. The facility, to be located in Jamnagar, Gujarat, will have a capacity of 168 megawatts and is targeted for delivery within two years.

Scale and Scope of the Project

The partnership assigns Reliance a comprehensive end-to-end role. According to details shared by the companies, Reliance will handle design, construction, utility management, renewable power supply, network connectivity, and managed services for the facility. The arrangement effectively makes Reliance the ground operator for what could become one of the largest AI-focused data centre projects on Indian soil.

Clean Energy at the Core

Notably, the agreement includes provisions for clean energy, with renewable power identified as a key component of the data centre's operational framework. This aligns with both Reliance's stated ambitions in the green energy space and Meta's global sustainability commitments, which require large facilities to be powered substantially by renewables.

Why Jamnagar

Jamnagar was not an accidental choice. The city in Gujarat's Saurashtra region is home to Reliance's sprawling industrial complex and offers existing infrastructure advantages — land, power grid connectivity, and logistics — that make large-scale facility development more viable than in greenfield locations. It also fits within the Gujarat government's broader push to attract data infrastructure investment.

India's AI Infrastructure Moment

The announcement comes as demand for AI computing capacity intensifies globally. Hyperscalers including Meta, Google, and Microsoft have been racing to secure data centre capacity in key markets, and India — with its large internet user base and growing enterprise AI adoption — has emerged as a priority destination. Domestic policy support, including government incentives for data localisation, has added further momentum.

For Meta, a domestic facility reduces latency for Indian users of its AI-powered products across WhatsApp, Instagram, and its advertising platforms. For Reliance, the deal extends its ambitions in the digital infrastructure space well beyond telecom.

The two-year delivery target, if met, would place the Jamnagar facility among the faster large-capacity data centre builds in the country.

Abhijeet Dipke regained control of the Cockroach Janata Party account and shared follower-location data, questioning Union minister Kiren Rijiju’s recent social media remarks.

Abhijeet Dipke, founder of the Cockroach Janata Party (CJP), on Sunday said he had regained access to the party’s Instagram account and posted follower-location data to rebut comments by Union Minister Kiren Rijiju about social media followings. The development comes amid a wider online tussle that included claims of the party website being taken offline.

Account recovered, post shared
According to the video clip shared on Instagram late Sunday morning, Dipke announced, “We are back, you forgot what we can do to survive,” alongside an image of a cockroach. The post marked the return of the CJP account after what Dipke and his supporters described as an earlier hacking or suspension.

Dipke also posted the follower breakdown on X (formerly Twitter), showing that more than 94% of the account’s followers are located in India. He used the data to question Rijiju’s remark labelling some Indian youth as “Pakistani” in the context of activists or accounts allegedly seeking followers from abroad.

Rijiju’s earlier post
Last week, Rijiju wrote on X that “I feel sorry for those who look for their followers on social media from Pakistan and the George Soros gang. India has enough energetic youth who can become genuine followers. There is no need to seek help from anti-India groups.” The Union minister did not name the CJP directly in that post.

In response, Dipke’s public sharing of follower-location data appeared aimed at undermining the minister’s implication that his audience was foreign-backed. Initial reports indicate the CJP Instagram page continued to gain followers even while it was reportedly inaccessible; Dipke’s team said follower numbers had risen to 2.27 crore by Sunday afternoon.

Website down, petition claims
Separately, Dipke posted on X on Saturday afternoon that the party’s website had been taken down. “The government has shut down our website. 10 lakh people had registered on it. 6 lakh people had signed the petition demanding the resignation of Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan,” his post said at 1:14 PM. Attempts to open the site returned a “This site can’t be reached” error message.

There was no immediate confirmation from government sources about the website outage or any directive to block the site. Officials familiar with such takedown processes said servers can go offline for several reasons, from technical failures to legal notices, and that a formal order would typically be logged and served. No such order was publicly available at the time of filing.

Background on Dipke and CJP
Abhijeet Dipke, 30, from Sambhaji Nagar (formerly Aurangabad) in Maharashtra, is a digital media strategist and the face of the satirical Cockroach Janata Party. Reports show he studied journalism in Pune and later worked as a social media strategist for the Aam Aadmi Party between 2020 and 2022. He is currently pursuing a Master’s in Public Relations at Boston University in the United States.

Dipke has used his social platforms to target central government policies and Prime Minister Narendra Modi on issues ranging from farm protests to inflation. His online campaigns, often meme-driven, drew attention during the 2020 Delhi Assembly elections, according to campaign records and archived materials.

On-the-ground reactions
On Sunday in Mumbai and Delhi, social-media managers and digital campaigners told local reporters that follower-location data can be misleading — driven by VPN use, bot accounts, or platform analytics quirks. “Publicly sharing a geographic percentage is indicative but not definitive,” one independent analyst said on condition of anonymity.

Supporters of CJP hailed the Instagram recovery on X, posting screenshots of the restored profile and celebrating the 2.27 crore follower figure. Critics, meanwhile, questioned the accuracy of follower-origin claims and urged platforms to publish transparent audit trails for account suspensions and recoveries.

What happens next
Dipke said he would continue to press the government on issues he has raised and planned to seek clarity from platform administrators about the earlier account disruption. Officials at Instagram (Meta) did not respond immediately to requests for comment on the account’s outage or restoration.

Meanwhile, the exchange has renewed calls for clearer public procedures on social-media takedowns and for political actors to avoid conflating large follower counts with foreign influence without corroborating evidence. Local digital rights groups said they would monitor the CJP website’s status and any formal government action.