WhatsApp banned 26.85 lakh accounts in India in September, 15% more than in August

Notably, the number of accounts blocked in September was 15 per cent higher than the 23.28 lakh accounts on the banned messaging platform in August.

Further, the instant messaging platform in its ‘User Safety Report’ for the month of September said, “Between September 01, 2022 and September 30, 2022, a total of 2,685,000 WhatsApp The accounts were banned. Before any reports from users, 872,000 of these accounts were actively banned. An Indian account is identified through a 91 phone number.”

Tougher IT regulations, which came into force in 2021, mandated large digital platforms (with over 50 lakh users) to publish compliance reports every month, detailing complaints received and action taken .

Major social media platforms have in the past drawn criticism over hate speech, misinformation and fake news circulating on their platforms. Concerns have been repeatedly expressed by some quarters that digital platforms are acting arbitrarily in pulling down content, and ‘de-platforming’ users.

The government last week announced rules to set up complaints appeal mechanisms against arbitrary content moderation, inaction or decision-making by big tech companies.

as per latest whatsapp reportThe platform received 666 complaints in September, but action was taken against only 23.

“In addition to responding to and responding to user complaints through the complaints channel, WhatsApp also deploys tools and resources to prevent harmful behavior on the platform. We are particularly focused on prevention as our We believe that it is better to prevent harmful activity from occurring in the first place than to detect it after harm has occurred,” the company explained.

WhatsApp had reportedly banned over 23.87 lakh Indian accounts in July. From banned accounts, over 1.4 million accounts were actively removed before any reports of users, messaging platforms and July numbers saw the highest ever in the current fiscal, reports news agency PTI. Huh.