WhatsApp Banned 26.85 Lakh Accounts in India in September, 8.72 Lakh Users 'Proactively' Barred

WhatsApp's latest report reveals that the platform received 666 reports of grievances from users in September, but took action against only 23.

By Press Trust of India | Updated: 2 November 2022 11:40 IST

WhatsApp Banned 26.85 Lakh Accounts in India in September, 8.72 Lakh Users 'Proactively' Barred

Photo Credit: Reuters

India's IT rules mandate large digital platforms to publish compliance reports every month

Highlights

WhatsApp reported a 15 per cent increase in banned accounts from August
India's IT Rules allow users to file grievances against moderation
WhatsApp took action against 23 out of 666 grievances received

WhatsApp banned 26.85 lakh accounts in India in September, including 8.72 lakh accounts which were barred proactively before being flagged by users, the Meta-owned instant messaging firm said on Tuesday. The number of accounts blocked in September were 15 per cent more than the 23.28 lakh accounts the messaging platform banned in August.

"Between 1 September, 2022, and 30 September, 2022, 2,685,000 WhatsApp accounts were banned. 872,000 of these accounts were proactively banned, before any reports from users. An Indian account is identified via a +91 phone number," Whatsapp said in its User Safety Report for the month of September.

The tougher IT rules, which came into effect last year, mandate large digital platforms (with over 50 lakh users) to publish compliance reports every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken.

Big social media firms have drawn flak in the past over hate speech, misinformation and fake news circulating on their platforms. Concerns have been flagged by some quarters time and again over digital platforms acting arbitrarily in pulling down content, and 'de-platforming' users.

The government last week announced rules for setting up a grievance appeal mechanism against arbitrary content moderation, inaction, or takedown decisions of big tech companies.

According to the WhatsApp report, the platform received 666 grievances in September but took action only against 23.

"In addition to responding to and actioning on user complaints through the grievance channel, WhatsApp also deploys tools and resources 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," the company said.

What are the best smartphones you can buy in India under Rs. 30,000? There are a handful of options that we've discussed on this week's episode of Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.

Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.