WhatsApp bans over 37 lakh Indian accounts in November

WhatsApp on Tuesday said it had banned lakhs of accounts in the month of November. These WhatsApp accounts have been banned under Rule 4(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

The latest report from the messaging platform shows that WhatsApp banned over 37 lakh accounts between November 1 and November 30, which is a couple of lakhs more than the accounts banned in October.

WhatsApp’s abuse detection operates at three stages of an account’s lifestyle: at registration, during messaging, and in response to negative feedback, which is received in the form of user reports and blocks. “A team of analysts augments these systems to evaluate edge cases and help improve our effectiveness over time,” the company explained.

Why WhatsApp bans accounts?

WhatsApp bans accounts that are spam and inappropriate, when reported in accordance with  Rule 4(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 that says, "publish periodic compliance report every month mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken thereon, and the number of specific communication links or parts of information that the intermediary has removed or disabled access to in pursuance of any proactive monitoring conducted by using automated tools or any other relevant information as may be specified."

How to report a WhatsApp account?

To report an account that is fishy or a threat, one can drop a complaint to WhatsApp support about the malicious accounts via mail to "wa@support.whatsapp.com," and mention the issues they have with the account.

You will have to share the screenshot as proof of your reason for reporting to the user. You can also report a WhatsApp account by going to WhatsApp chat > Tap More options > More > Report. You can select between reporting the user or blocking their account.