More than 67 lakh “bad” Indian accounts were banned by WhatsApp in January; more here

In accordance with the new IT Rules 2021, Meta-owned WhatsApp banned over 67 lakh fraudulent accounts in India during the month of January.

“6,728,000 accounts” were blocked by the corporation from January 1 to January 31. Prior to any user complaints, WhatsApp proactively banned over 1,358,000 of these accounts, according to its monthly compliance report.

With over 500 million users nationwide, the most popular messaging app received a record 14,828 complaints in January, with 10 of those reports being “actioned.”

“Accounts Actioned” indicates instances in which WhatsApp addressed issues raised by the complaints; taking action means that an account may be banned or, in the case of a ban, may be reinstated.

“This user-safety report includes information on the complaints from users and the steps WhatsApp took to address them, along with WhatsApp’s own preventative measures to stop abuse on our platform,” the firm said.

The Central government established the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) to address the grievances of millions of Indian social media users with respect to content and other matters.

The newly established body will consider user appeals against judgments made by social media platforms as part of an effort to fortify the nation’s digital laws in an effort to rein in Big Tech giants.

“When it comes to preventing and addressing misuse, we dominate the industry among end-to-end encrypted messaging platforms. We employ a team of engineers, data scientists, analysts, researchers, and specialists in law enforcement, online safety, and technological advancements to monitor these efforts in addition to our safety measures and controls, WhatsApp stated in a statement.

More than 69 lakh malicious accounts were banned by WhatsApp in the nation in December of last year.