WhatsApp blocks over 65 lakh bad accounts in India in May

NEW DELHI — Meta-owned WhatsApp banned more than 65 lakh bad accounts in India in the month of May, in compliance with the new IT Rules 2021, the company informed on Sunday.

Between May 1 and May 31, 6,508,000 WhatsApp accounts were banned and 2,420,700 of these accounts were proactively banned, before any reports from users in the country.

In the month of April, WhatsApp, which has more than 500 million users in India, had banned a record over 74 lakh bad accounts.

The most popular messaging platform also received 3,912 grievance reports like “ban appeals” in May in the country, and the records “actioned” were 297.

“Accounts Actioned” denotes reports where WhatsApp took remedial action based on the report and taking action denotes either banning an account or a previously banned account being restored as a result.

“This user-safety report contains details of the user complaints received and the corresponding action taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp’s own preventive actions to combat abuse on our platform,” according to the company.

In a bid to empower millions of Indian social media users, the Centre recently launched the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) that will look into their concerns regarding content and other issues.

The newly-formed panel, a move to strengthen the country’s digital laws to tame the Big Tech companies, will look into appeals by users against decisions of social media platforms.

In a major push towards an open, safe, trusted and accountable Internet, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has notified some amendments aimed at protecting the rights of ‘Digital Nagriks’.