WhatsApp bans over 71 lakh Indian accounts to prevent abuse

WhatsApp has banned 71,82,000 Indian accounts between April 1 and April 30 this year to prevent abuse, scams and violation of privacy policy, the instant messaging platform revealed in its monthly report.

Of the more than 71 lakh Indian accounts banned, 13,02,000 were shut down by WhatsApp even before these were reported by users for suspicious activity, as a pre-emptive measure to ensure abuse is avoided. The social media platform tracks suspicious activity using data analytics and advanced learning.

WhatsApp received 10,554 submissions from users in April 2024, and these included grievances, complaints or queries related to safety issues, account banning requests, account support and product support. Of these, only six grievances were considered serious enough for action to be initiated.

The popular social media app owned by Meta has revealed that it would impose further bans in the country for the violation of WhatsApp rules in order to comply with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules of 2021, which makes it compulsory for platforms to publish detailed compliance reports about user complaints and violation of rules.

WhatsApp’s latest report has also focussed on the various reasons why accounts are blocked. In order to maintain security of user accounts, an account can be banned on the grounds of violation of terms of service if it engages in scamming, distributing spam, and spreading harmful information or content. Action can be initiated for legal violation, too, against an account that engages in activity which breaches the law. Finally, WhatsApp can ban an account if its user logs a complaint of abusive behaviour.

The instant messaging platform uses various technologies to spot and prevent spams, scams and abusive online behaviour including algorithms to scan messages and spot any trace of abusive behaviour. User feedback is another important method. When a user blocks or reports a content or contact, the information is automatically fed into the app’s detection system and this in turn could lead to banning of the contact in question. WhatsApp also has a mechanism in place to block an account at the time of creation if it seems suspicious.