In accordance with the new IT regulations, WhatsApp banned approximately 23 lakh Indian accounts in the month of August 2022. Around 10 lakh of the prohibited accounts were proactively banned, according to the User Safety Monthly Report, even before they were reported by users. Comparable to what was reported for the month of July, WhatsApp blocked a similar number of accounts overall in August. WhatsApp responded to user complaints by taking action on the majority of the accounts.
According to WhatsApp, it terminated the majority of the accounts after receiving complaints from users using the “Report” feature. Additionally, the chat app operated by Meta received 598 reports of complaints, and 19 of the accounts were addressed. Between August 1 and 30, it blocked 2,328,000 accounts from India.
WhatsApp stated in its report that it was making changes to the platform to increase user safety and security. The platform not only provides several privacy measures, but it also includes a specific method for reporting abuse or other harmful activities. Additionally, WhatsApp reviews every report that is sent by email and, if necessary, disables accounts “for breaching the laws of India or WhatsApp’s Terms of Service.”
WhatsApp uses automated techniques in addition to user complaints to find spam or malicious users.
“When a user registers, while messaging, and in reaction to unfavourable feedback, which we get in the form of user reports and blocks, the abuse detection system kicks in. In order to examine edge cases and assist us gradually increase our efficacy, a team of analysts augments these systems “WhatsApp India Monthly Report mentions this.