WhatsApp Bans Seven Crore Indian Accounts Between January And November 2023: Report

During the Lok Sabha elections, all reports of fraud and illicit telemarketing on WhatsApp are being rigorously investigated by the Meta-owned company to comply with Rule 4(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules, 2021). Monthly India reports have been regularly released by the company.

According to WhatsApp, these reports are published in accordance with Rule 4(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules, 2021), as reported by Hindustan Times.

WhatsApp Bans Seven Crore Indian Accounts

These reports contain information on actions taken by WhatsApp in response to grievances received from users in India via WhatsApp's grievance mechanisms, and accounts actioned in India through prevention and detection methods for violating the laws of India or WhatsApp's Terms of Service.

Between March 1 and 31, 7,954,000 accounts were banned by WhatsApp. A report released by WhatsApp in January 2024 stated that 69,307,254 accounts had been banned till November 31 of the previous year.

In January last year, 2,918,000 accounts were banned by WhatsApp, followed by 4,597,400 in February, 4,715,906 in March, 7,452,500 in April, 6,508,000 in May, 6,611,700 in June, 7,228,000 in July, 7,420,748 in August, 71,11,000 in September, 7,548,000 in October, and 7,196,000 in November, as reported by Hindustan Times citing the report.

With the upcoming release of another report featuring December data, it is anticipated that this figure will surpass the 7-crore mark. Additionally, WhatsApp highlighted that over 2 crore (24,378,890) of these accounts were proactively banned before any reports from users were received.

"The data shared highlights the number of Indian accounts banned by WhatsApp...using the aforementioned abuse detection approach, which also includes action taken in furtherance to negative feedback received from users," said WhatsApp.

According to the monthly reports, over 79,000 grievances were received from users between January and November last year, encompassing account support, ban appeals, other support, product support, and safety concerns. In response, action was taken against 2,398 accounts by the platform, as per media report.

"Accounts Actioned' denotes reports where remedial action was taken based on the report. Taking action denotes either banning an account or a previously banned account being restored as a result of the complaint," WhatsApp said in a report.

Further, they added that reports may have been reviewed but not included as 'Actioned' for several reasons, including - The user requires assistance from us to access their account; The user requires assistance to use one of our features.

The user is writing to us to provide feedback regarding our service; The user requests restoration of a banned account and the request is denied; The reported account does not violate the laws of India or our Terms of Service."