According to WhatsApp's monthly reports, the company canceled about 7 crore accounts in India between January and November 2023. In compliance with Rule 4(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules, 2021), the Meta-owned company is thoroughly reviewing all accusations of fraud and unlawful telemarketing on WhatsApp during the Lok Sabha elections. The business has been publishing reports on India every month.
In keeping with WhatsApp, the reports are released in compliance with Rule 4(1)(d) of the IT Rules, 2021 (information technology (intermediary guidelines and digital media ethics code)). These reports include details on what WhatsApp did in response to: Grievances from Indian users through WhatsApp's grievance channels; Accounts that were blocked or detected in India for breaking WhatsApp's terms of service or Indian laws.
7,954,000 accounts were banned by WhatsApp between March 1 and March 31. In January 2024, WhatsApp produced a report stating that up to November 31 of that year, 69,307,254 accounts had been banned by the business. During the previous year, WhatsApp blocked 2,918,000 accounts in January, 4,715,906 accounts in February, 7,452,500 accounts in April, 6,508,000 accounts in May, 6,611,700 accounts in June, 7,228,000 accounts in July, 7,420,748 accounts in August, 71,11,000 accounts in September, 7,548,000 accounts in October, and 7,196,000 accounts in November.
Another report with December data is due out soon, and it is expected that this amount would exceed Rs. 7 crore. WhatsApp further stated that more over 2 crore (24,378,890) of these accounts were proactively terminated prior to user reports. The information released shows how many Indian accounts WhatsApp has banned. WhatsApp noted that it used the previously mentioned abuse detection method in addition to taking action in response to user complaints. The monthly statistics state that between January and November of last year, WhatsApp received over 79,000 complaints from users. These complaints included issues with account support, ban appeals, other support, product support, and safety concerns. The platform responded by taking down 2,398 accounts.
Accounts Actioned' refers to reports where we took corrective action based on the findings. According to WhatsApp, taking action means either banning an account or restoring a previously banned account in response to a complaint.
Reports may have been examined but not marked as 'Actioned' for a variety of reasons, including the following: the user requires our assistance to access their account or to use one of our features. The user is writing to provide feedback on our service; the user asks the restoration of a banned account, which is denied; and the reported account does not violate Indian laws or our Terms of Service.
