WhatsApp Banned 2.3 Mn Accounts, Received 598 Complaints In August 2022

Meta-owned instant messaging app WhatsApp on Saturday (October 1) said that it banned more than 2.3 Mn accounts in the month of August 2022.

Of these, more than 1 Mn accounts were proactively banned, while the remaining 1.3 Mn accounts were banned in response to complaints from users. 

WhatsApp made the disclosure in the monthly compliance report filed in accordance with the new IT Rules, 2021.

The platform also received 598 complaints during the month via its local grievance redressal mechanisms. A majority of the requests, 449, appealed the ban imposed by WhatsApp. Other complaints pertained to account support (78), product safety (21), safety (14), among others. 

In response, the Meta-owned platform took action against 19 requests. Essentially, WhatsApp took remedial action based on the reports, including either banning the account or restoring a previously banned account.

The grievances were collated via two avenues – either via email or post mail sent to WhatsApp’s local grievance officer. 

The communications platform also claims to deploy tools to prevent harmful behavior on the platform. 

“We are particularly focused on prevention because we believe it is much better to stop harmful activity from happening in the first place than to detect it after harm has occurred,” WhatsApp said in the compliance report.

WhatsApp’s abuse detection process operates at three levels – registration, during messaging, and in response to negative feedback. Besides, a team of analysts also works to augment the system and increase the efficacy of the detection tools. 

In its compliance report for the month of July, the platform had disclosed that it banned 2.3 Mn Indian accounts for violating community guidelines. 

Meanwhile, Meta, in its latest compliance report, said that it actioned more than 23.78 Mn content pieces across Facebook and Instagram platforms in August 2022.

Similarly, Twitter also received 1,088 complaints and banned 60,000 accounts between July 26, 2022 and August 25, 2022 for flouting community guidelines. Search giant Google received 37,282 complaints from individual users in India in August and acted on 1.38 Lakh content pieces based on those complaints received.

In a company-related development, WhatsApp’s India payments head Manesh Mahatme resigned last month and reports said that he plans to join his former employer and ecommerce giant Amazon. 

In addition, microblogging platform Twitter also announced that it was experimenting with a WhatsApp share button for Android users in India.

All social media intermediaries with more than 5 Mn users are mandated under the IT Rules, 2021 to publish monthly compliance reports.