JOIN USWhatsApp banned 20 lakh Indian accounts during May15-June 15 period
Facebook owned messaging platform WhatsApp has said it has banned 20 lakh Indian accounts between May 15 and June 15.
The US based firm in its first monthly compliance report also said that it received 345 grievance reports during that period.
The company also said that more than 95 per cent of such bans are due to the unauthorised use of automated or bulk messaging (spam) feature.
The vast majority of these accounts are banned proactively, without relying on any user reports, Whatsapp said.
Globally about 80 lakh accounts are banned/disabled on an average per month.
The social media companies have to generate monthly compliance report mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken as per new IT rules which came into effect from May 26.
The company explained that the number of accounts banned have risen significantly since 2019 as the sophistication of systems has increased, and "so we are catching more accounts even as we believe there are more attempts to send bulk or automated messages".
WhatsApp said besides the behavioural signals from accounts, it relies on available "unencrypted information" including user reports, profile photos, group photos and descriptions as well as advanced AI tools and resources to detect and prevent abuse on its platform.
In the report, WhatsApp said it had received 345 reports in total, cutting across categories such as ban appeal, account support, product support, safety issues and others.
Against this, 63 accounts were "actioned" by WhatsApp during May 15-June 15, 2021.
WhatsApp said user reports received by the platform via the grievance channel/s are evaluated and responded to.
Majority of users who reach out to WhatsApp are either aiming to have their account restored following an action to ban them or reaching out for product or account support, it added.
Other significant social media platforms like Google, Koo and Twitter have already submitted their compliance reports. Instagram and Facebook have also submitted their reports.