WhatsApp banned over 23 Lakh Indian users in August 2022, here is the reason why ?

WhatsApp banned over 23 lakh Indian accounts in the month of August 2022, in compliance with the new IT rules. The User Safety Monthly Report cited that around 10 lakh of the banned accounts were proactively banned, even before they were reported by users. The total number of banned accounts by WhatsApp in August is similar to that reported for the month of July. On the majority of the accounts, WhatsApp took action after receiving complaints from the users.

WhatsApp said that it banned most of the accounts after receiving negative feedback from users via WhatsApp's "Report" feature. In addition, Meta-owned chat app got 598 grievance reports and it took action on 19 of the accounts. In total, it banned 2,328,000 Indian accounts between August 1-30.

In its report, WhatsApp said that it was taking various steps to make the platform more secure and safe for its users. Along with offering multiple privacy features, the platform has a dedicated process to report abuse or other harmful things. WhatsApp also goes through all the submitted reports received by email and, if required, bans accounts "for violating the laws of India or WhatsApp's Terms of Service."

In addition to complaints reported by users, WhatsApp relies on automated systems to identify spam or rogue users.

"The abuse detection operates at three stages of an account's lifestyle: at registration, during messaging, and in response to negative feedback, which we receive in the form of user reports and blocks. A team of analysts augment these systems to evaluate edge cases and help improve our effectiveness over time," notes WhatsApp India Monthly Report.