WhatsApp says it banned over 19 lakh accounts in India in May

WhatsApp has published the 12th edition of its Monthly Report in India in compliance with the new IT Rules 2021. In the latest edition of the report, the company revealed that it banned over 19 lakh accounts from its platform between May 1, 2022, and May 31, 2022. Also Read – How to use Instagram to share posts with other social media channels

The Meta-owned messaging platform revealed that during the mentioned time period, it received a total of 303 ban appeal reports of which it ‘actioned’ 23 reports. The company also received a total of 149 account support reports, 34 product safety reports and 13 safety reports. It actioned none of these reports. Also Read – Instagram iOS users can now delete their accounts from the app

In total, WhatsApp received 528 requests between May 1 and May 31 this, of which it actioned just 23 reports. It also banned a total of 19,10,000 accounts from its platform during the same time period. Also Read – WhatsApp spotted working on a Memoji-like avatar for video calls

The company said in addition to responding to and actioning on user complaints through the grievance channel, it also
deploys ‘tools and resources to prevent harmful behavior on the platform’. “We are particularly focused on
prevention because we believe it is much better to stop harmful activity from happening in the first place than
to detect it after harm has occurred,” WhatsApp wrote in a blog post.

Notably, this report is a part of the new IT Rules, 2021 as a part of which, social media platforms with over five million subscribers have to publish monthly compliance report in India.

On the other hand, the company banned a total of 16,66,000 accounts in India between April 1, 2022, and April 30, 2022. During the same time period, the company got a total of 670 ban appeals of which it actioned 122 reports. The company also got 90 account support requests, 34 product support requests, and 13 safety requests. It actioned none of these requests. In total, the company got 844 requests in the month of April this year of which it actioned just 123 requests.

Similarly, WhatsApp banned a total of 18,05,000 accounts in India between March 1, 2022, and March 31, 2022. During the same time period, the messaging app received a total of 407 ban appeals of which it actioned 74 reports. During the same time period, the company received a total of 597 requests of which it actioned a total of 74 reports. BGR