WhatsApp bans over 4.5 million Indian accounts in February

WhatsApp, the Meta-owned instant messaging platform, banned over 4.5 million accounts in India in February. This number is considerably higher than the number of accounts that were barred in the previous month, according to the messaging platform's monthly report in India.
WhatsApp banned 2.9 million Indian accounts in January, 3.6 million accounts in December 2022, and 3.7 million accounts in the month before, reported Indian media on Monday.

WhatsApp's user safety report provides information about the complaints received from users and the actions taken by it, as well as the platform's own measures to prevent abuse.

"As reflected in the latest monthly report, WhatsApp banned more than 4.5 million accounts in February," a spokesperson for WhatsApp said.

According to the report, "Between February 1, 2023, and February 28, 2023, 4,597,400 WhatsApp accounts were banned. 1,298,000 (1.2 million) of these accounts were proactively banned, before any reports from users."

The report also revealed that as many as 2,804 grievance reports were received, and 504 accounts were "actioned" in February.

Of the total reports received, 2,548 were related to 'ban appeals,' while others were in categories such as account support, product support, and safety.

"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 said.

Large digital platforms (with over five million users) are required by IT rules to publish compliance reports every month, which include details of complaints received and actions taken.

In the past, big social media firms have come under criticism over hate speech, misinformation, and fake news on their platforms.

Concerns have been raised by some about digital platforms acting arbitrarily in removing content and 'de-platforming' users.

The government has launched the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) mechanism, which allows users to appeal against decisions made by social media platforms by filing complaints on a new portal.

The GAC is, in effect, an online dispute resolution mechanism, and users who are aggrieved by a decision of the Grievance Officer of an intermediary, such as Meta or Twitter, can file their appeal or complaint through the new portal at gac.gov.in.