WhatsApp, messaging service owned by Meta Platforms, on Thursday said it banned over 23 lakh Indian accounts in July 2022 on the basis of complaints received from users via the grievances channel.
According to a monthly report published by the messaging platform, a total of 23,87,000 Indian WhatsApp accounts were banned between July 1, 2022, and July 31, 2022
The report said as many as 574 grievance reports were received and 27 accounts were ‘actioned’ on July 1, 2022, and July 31, 2022.
Out of the total reports received, 392 pertained to ban appeal while others were in the categories of account support, product support and safety, among others.
“We respond to all grievances received except in cases where a grievance is deemed to be a duplicate of a previous ticket. An account is ‘actioned’ when an account is banned or a previously banned account is restored, as a result of a complaint,” the report release said.
WhatsApp said the ‘accounts actioned’ denoted reports in which remedial action was taken based on the complaints. “Taking action denotes either banning an account or a previously banned account being restored as a result of the complaint,” the report said.
In its report, WhatsApp said the safety-related grievances are related to the issues that may be about abuse or harmful behaviour on the platform. The messaging app said it guides the user to lodge a complaint via in-app reporting.
“This allows WhatsApp to receive the most recent messages sent to the complainant by the reported user or group, as well as information on the complainant’s recent interactions with the reported user. As per our processes, this is not recorded as an action taken against the grievance report.”
An Indian account is identified via a +91 phone number.
The new IT rules - which came into effect in May last year - require large digital platforms (with over 5 million users) to publish compliance reports every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken.
(Edited by : Sudarsanan Mani)
