WhatsApp ban in India: Over 3 mn accounts banned, reveals Monthly Safety Report

WhatsApp ban in India: Facebook-owned WhatsApp last month published its first-ever monthly safety report in India in compliance with the local data laws. In its report, WhatsApp app revealed that it has banned at least two million accounts in India between May 15 and June 15. Now, in the second iteration of the report, WhatsApp banned over 3 million accounts in India within a span of 45 days. WhatsApp banned 3,027,000 accounts in India within a span of just 46 days from June 16 to July 31.

“Over the years, we have consistently invested in Artificial Intelligence and other state of the art technology, data scientists and experts, and in processes, in order to keep our users safe on our platform. In accordance with the IT Rules 2021, we’ve published our second monthly report for the 46 day period of - 16 June to 31 July. This user-safety report contains details of the user complaints received and the corresponding action taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp’s own preventive actions to combat abuse on our platform,” a WhatsApp spokesperson told HT Tech.

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WhatsApp said that it received grievances from users in India via two methods. First is via the e-mails that were sent to WhatsApp’s Grievance Officer in India regarding violations of WhatsApp’s Terms of Service, or questions about WhatsApp accounts, published in the Help Center and the second is via mails sent to the India Grievance Officer via post. The company said that it received 137 requests related to account support out of which it actioned just one. It also received 316 WhatsApp ban appeals in India between the mentioned time period, out of which it banned 73 accounts.

WhatsApp, in its Monthly Safety Report also revealed that it also received 45 other support related requests, 64 product support related requests and 32 safety related requests, out of which it actioned none. In total, the messaging platform received 594 complaints in India between June 16 and July 31, out of which it actioned 74 requests.