WhatsApp bans over 75 lakh bad accounts in India in October; here’s why

Meta-owned WhatsApp enforced the new IT Rules 2021 by banning a record-breaking 7,548,000 accounts in India throughout October. Among these, 19,19,000 were proactively banned before user reports, as outlined in WhatsApp's monthly compliance report.

Boasting a user base of over 500 million in the country, the platform received 9,063 complaint reports in October. Out of these reports, 12 were actioned, indicating remedial steps taken by WhatsApp—either banning an account or restoring a previously banned one—in response to these reports.

WhatsApp's safety report aims to provide comprehensive details of user complaints and the corresponding actions taken, including the platform's proactive measures to counter abuse.

The Centre's recent launch of the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) seeks to empower Indian social media users by addressing their content-related concerns. This panel, a strategic move to bolster the nation's digital regulations over Big Tech companies, will focus on reviewing user appeals against social media platform decisions.

"We are an industry leader among end-to-end encrypted messaging services in preventing and combating abuse. In addition to our safety features and controls, we employ a team of engineers, data scientists, analysts, researchers, and experts in law enforcement, online safety, and technology developments to oversee these efforts," said WhatsApp.

Meanwhile, in its most recent update, WhatsApp unveiled a secret code feature enabling users to secure their private conversations. Users now have the option to set personalised passwords, inclusive of emojis, or utilise their device’s biometric authentication for added security of their private chats. Streamlining the process, locking chats has become more straightforward. Users need only long-press on the desired chat, prompting a menu to appear with the option to lock the chat.

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