WhatsApp releases 2nd transparency report under IT Rules, over 3 mn Indian accounts banned

WhatsApp released its second monthly transparency report under the Centre's new IT Rules, detailing the complaints that it had received between June-July and the action that it had taken based on the complaints. According to the WhatsApp transparency report, over 3 million accounts were banned in India in a 45-day period between June 16 to July 31. More than 95% of these accounts were banned for their unauthorized use of automated or bulk messaging. 

WhatsApp transparency report 

WhatsApp, received 594 user reports spanning across account support (137), ban appeal (316), other support (45), product support (64) and safety (32) during June 16-July 31. During this period, 3,027,000 Indian accounts were banned while 74 accounts were "actioned", as per the report. The firm said that the complaints were reived through e-mails sent to grievance_officer_wa@support.whatsapp.com or mails that were received by its India Grievance Officer via post.

"Indian accounts, identified by the "+91" in their mobile numbers, were actioned through WhatsApp's prevention and detection methods,for violating either the laws of India or the company’s Terms of Service," it said in its compliance report.

WhatsApp took the aforementioned action against accounts through its "prevention and detection method" for violating the laws of India or WhatsApp's Terms of Service. It said that the bans were imposed in the "interest of preventing online abuse and keeping users safe" on the platform. "The global average no. of accounts that we ban to prevent abuse on our platform is around 8 million accounts per month," the WhatsApp statement said.

In its first compliance report under the new IT rules, Whatsapp had banned 2 million accounts between May 15-June 15. The IT Rules 2021 came into effect on May 25 with an aim to prevent abuse and misuse of the digital platform. According to the guidelines, digital platforms with more than five million users will have to submit a monthly compliance report with details of received complaints and action taken against it.