In its monthly compliance report published on January 1, WhatsApp revealed that it banned a massive 71 lakh Indian accounts in November 2022 for violating policies.
Out of these, 19.54 lakh accounts were proactively barred by WhatsApp before any user report based on harmful behavior detected by its tools and resources. The company took action on 6 accounts following 8,841 user complaints received in November.
WhatsApp’s grievance redressal mechanisms in India include the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) set up by the government. The GAC submitted 8 reports in November which were promptly addressed by WhatsApp.
The Facebook-owned instant messaging app publishes this transparency report every month as per the IT Rules 2021 which covers user safety, received complaints, and corresponding actions taken.
It uses learnings from these reports to strengthen its abuse detection and prevent misuse, including policy violations at the registration stage and during messaging. This has led WhatsApp to ban over 71 lakh Indian accounts in a single month.
On the product side, WhatsApp has introduced new updates to make status updates more interactive like Instagram Stories. Beta testers noted a new persistent Reply bar while viewing statuses that replaces the earlier swipe-up gesture to respond.
There is also a dedicated Updates tab that separates ephemeral status updates from long-term updates posted via the newly launched Channels feature. These changes could boost user engagement with statuses as more find it easier to discover and respond to updates.
The proactive monitoring by WhatsApp reflects its attempts to curb platform misuse in India which is among its biggest markets. But rising instances of Indian accounts facing a ban raise questions on the effectiveness of its safeguards.
