In March, the digital platform WhatsApp owned by Meta blocked nearly 47 lakh accounts in India. In February, this number was 45 lakh. According to a WhatsApp representative, more than 47 lakh accounts have been deactivated as a result of complaints that were made in March 2023. Previously, 37 lakh accounts were frozen in November 2022, 45 lakh in February 2022, 29 lakh in January 2022, and 36 lakh in December 2022.
According to Rule 4(1)(D) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Code of Conduct) Rules, these accounts have been blocked. According to WhatsApp, the blocked account broke either Indian law or WhatsApp's terms of service.
Whatsapp received 4720 complaints in March
The data states that from March 1 to March 31, a total of 47,15,906 accounts were banned. Of these, WhatsApp independently deleted 16,59,385 accounts without receiving any user complaints. According to the data, WhatsApp got 4,720 complaints in total in March 2023, and 585 accounts were targeted as a result. According to WhatsApp, we respond to all concerns as long as they do not repeat earlier complaints. An account may be banned or previously banned accounts may be reinstated depending on the complaint.
Reason for banning the accounts
According to WhatsApp, we respond to all concerns as long as they do not repeat earlier complaints. An account may be banned or previously banned accounts may be reinstated depending on the complaint. Large digital platforms with more than 5 million users are expected to provide compliance reports each month in accordance with information technology regulations. They must provide specifics about the complaints received and the responses made in this report.
