WhatsApp’s India monthly reports on the first three months of 2023 and 2024 revealed that the number of banned accounts on the messaging platform has nearly doubled this year. The reports, mandated under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, provide insights into the platform’s efforts to maintain its community standards and user safety.
In the first three months of 2024, WhatsApp blocked a stunning 22,310,000 accounts in India. The number of blocked accounts has nearly doubled over the same period in 2023, showing the country's rising problem with internet frauds and user safety concerns.
According to WhatsApp's monthly reports, the measures against these Indian accounts were carried out in compliance with Rules 4(1)(d) and 3A(7) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.
These actions were primarily motivated by three factors: user grievances submitted through WhatsApp's grievance mechanisms in India, accounts flagged for violating Indian laws or WhatsApp's Terms of Service using their prevention and detection methods, and orders issued by the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC).
WhatsApp discovered that these accounts were breaking its platform rules and compromising user privacy through frauds, spamming, and other causes. The increase in banned accounts demonstrates the prevalence of online frauds and misuse on the site, notably in India, which has over 530 million monthly active users, the biggest internationally.
WhatsApp advises users to read its "Acceptable Use of Our Services" section to have a better grasp of the standards. Furthermore, WhatsApp highlights the significance of account security and encourages users to report any illegal access immediately.
WhatsApp, on its webpage, states: “If your account is banned, you’ll see the following message when you open WhatsApp – ‘This account is not allowed to use WhatsApp’. We ban accounts if we believe the account activity violates our Terms of Service, for example, if it involves spam, scams or if it puts WhatsApp users’ safety at risk.”
WhatsApp's monthly statistics for January, February, and March 2024 show a constant increase in the number of banned accounts over the first quarter. In January 2024, WhatsApp banned 6,728,000 accounts, including 1,358,000 proactively banned accounts, which were removed prior to any user reports.
Bans increased in February 2024, with 7,628,000 accounts erased, including 1,424,000 that were intentionally banned. In March 2024, the trend continued, with 7,954,000 accounts removed, including 1,430,000 that were intentionally banned. This demonstrates a consistent increase in the number of suspensions and preventative actions implemented by WhatsApp over the quarter.