WhatsApp banned over 2 million Indian accounts in August, shows compliance report

The latest report released on Tuesday revealed that FacebookProprietary messaging application banned 20,70,000 Indian accounts during August. An Indian account is identified by a +91 code preceded by the phone number.

Earlier, WhatsApp said that more than 95 percent of the restrictions are due to unauthorized use of automated or bulk messaging (spam). The global average number of accounts used by WhatsApp to prevent abuse on its platform is around 8 million accounts per month.

In its monthly compliance report for August, WhatsApp said it received 420 user reports during August spanning Account Support (105), Ban Appeals (222), Other Support (34), Product Support (42) and Security (17). During this period, “action” was taken on 41 accounts, the report further said.

WhatsApp explained that “Accounts Action” refers to reports where it took remedial action based on the report. Taking action indicates either the banning of an account or the reinstatement of an account already banned as a result of the complaint.

Also, the report may have been reviewed but not included as an “action” for a number of reasons, including requiring assistance for the user to access their account or to use certain features, accounts restricted by the user. reinstatement is requested and the request is denied, or if the reported account does not violate the laws of India or WhatsApp’s Terms of Service.

Over 3 million Indian accounts were banned by WhatsApp, while the messaging platform received 594 complaint reports between June 16 and July 31.

NS new IT rules – which came into force on 26 May – requires large digital platforms (with over 5 million users) to publish compliance reports every month, mentioning details of complaints received and action taken.

Earlier, WhatsApp had insisted that being an end-to-end encrypted platform, it has no visibility into the content of any message. In addition to behavioral cues from accounts, it relies on available unencrypted information, including user reports, profile photos, group photos and descriptions, as well as advanced AI tools and resources to detect and prevent abuse on its platform. have taken.