WhatsApp has banned more than 78 lakh accounts in India.
WhatsApp has once again banned the accounts of millions of Indian users. Meta’s instant messaging platform took this action in February 2024. Earlier in January also, the company had banned more than 67 lakh accounts in India. WhatsApp has released its compliance report under the new IT Rules 2021, in which information about the action taken on the accounts of Indian users has been shared. Big social media and tech companies have to release this compliance report every month.
According to the information shared by WhatsApp, between February 1, 2024 and February 29, 2024, the instant messaging platform has taken this action on the accounts of 76,28,000 (76.28 lakh) Indian users. Out of the banned accounts of Indian users, the company has proactively banned 14,24,000 accounts. These accounts were not reported by any user.
Record complaints received in February
WhatsApp said in its monthly compliance report that the company has 500 million i.e. more than 50 crore users in India. A record 16,618 complaints have been made by these users in February 2024, out of which action has been taken in 22 cases. “Account actioned” mentioned by WhatsApp means that these accounts have already been banned or have been restored.
The company said that we respond to all complaints received on our platform, if they are not duplicates i.e. they have not been reported earlier. WhatsApp said that between January 1 and January 31, 2024, the company had banned 67.28 lakh accounts in India. Of these, about 13.58 lakh accounts were banned by the company even before any user complained.
Company prepared for Lok Sabha elections
WhatsApp has also made preparations for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections in India in 2024. The company is working to remove rumors and fake content on its platform. Not only this, a helpline number has also been issued to stop the spread of such rumors and AI generated content. Apart from this, the company has also recently started International UPI Payment Service from its app.