WhatsApp bans over 4.7 million Indian accounts in March

WhatsApp, the instant messaging app owned by Meta, has released its user safety report for March 2023.

According to the report, more than 47 lakh Indian accounts have been banned on WhatsApp in March 2023 to combat abuse on the platform.

These accounts have been blocked in accordance with Rule 4(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The accounts were banned as these users violated Indian laws or WhatsApp's terms of service.

WhatsApp banned around 4,715,906 Indian users between March 1 and March 31, 2023. The platform had blocked approximately 1,659,385 accounts proactively before any user complaints were received. Using its prevention and detection methods, the platform took action against the remaining accounts.

Notably, in March, WhatsApp blocked more accounts as compared to the previous month.

WhatsApp banned around 4,597,400 Indian users between January 1, 2023 and February 28, 2023. It also blocked over 1,298,000 accounts proactively before any user complaints were received. Furthermore, according to the most recent report, WhatsApp received 4,720 complaint reports. There were 4,316 ban appeals out of them, however, WhatsApp only took action on 553.

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- With inputs from agencies

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