The fifth Monthly Compliance Report for India by WhatsApp indicates that 2,069,000 accounts were banned in the country in October 2021. The process which relies on WhatsApp’s abuse detection technology has had some huge numbers in previous months, with the October figure lower than the 2.2 million accounts blacklisted by the social media platform in September 2021.
WhatsApp also announced that it received 500 grievance reports from users, which comprised 248 ban appeals, 146 account support requests, and 53 product support, among others. There were some actions taken under the various grievance reports and the new regime is in line with the Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Code regulations, 2021.
The user-safety report mechanism kicked off in July 2021 and enables WhatsApp to monitor and take preventive actions to combat abuse of its safety rules on the platform. An Indian account is identified with its prefix +91 in the phone number, and the banning is aimed at preventing abuse among end-to-end encrypted messaging services. WhatsApp uses its Artificial Intelligence and other technologies to ensure that users are kept safe on the platform.
The huge number of accounts that have been progressively banned by WhatsApp may be indicative of the depth of the problem of abuse within social media platforms. WhatsApp hopes to continue to enhance its processes to discover and prevent abuse within the platform. It has continued to invest heavily in technology as the driving force for ensuring compliance with its rules.
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