WhatsApp banned 36.77 lakh accounts in India last December: Know here’s why

The banned WhatsApp accounts in India include 13.89 lakh accounts which were barred proactively before being flagged by users. In December, WhatsApp banned 37.16 lakh accounts in the country, including 9.9 lakh accounts which were barred proactively.

“Between 1 December 2022 and 31 December 2022, 3,677,000 WhatsApp accounts were banned. 1,389,000 of these accounts were proactively banned, before any reports from users,” WhatsApp said in its India Monthly Report for December published under the Information Technology Rules 2021.

The tougher IT rules, which came into effect last year, mandate large digital platforms (with over 50 lakh users) to publish compliance reports every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken.

Big social media firms have drawn flak in the past over hate speech, misinformation and fake news circulating on their platforms. Concerns have been flagged by some quarters time and again over digital platforms acting arbitrarily in pulling down content, and ‘de-platforming’ users.

The government last week announced three grievances appeal committees that will handle user’s complaints against the large social media companies from March 1. WhatsApp users’ appeal in December jumped by about 70 per cent to 1607, including an appeal to ban 1,459 accounts, compared to 946 complaints in November.

The instant messaging firm took action only on 166 appeals. WhatsApp said it responds 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 it is banned or a previously banned account is restored, as a result of a complaint, the report said.

In addition to responding to and actioning on user complaints through the grievance channel, WhatsApp deploys tools and resources to prevent harmful behaviour on the platform, the report said.

Meanwhile, If you are using an Apple iPhone 6, first-generation iPhone SE, or an old Android phone, then be warned. According to a report by HT Tech, Meta-owned WhatsApp will stop working on some old smartphones starting tomorrow i.e. February 1, 2023.

To run WhatsApp on an Android phone, it must be running on Android version 4.0.3 or newer. Similarly, iOS version 12 and above support WhatsApp. Devices running on OS versions older than these will no longer support WhatsApp.