WhatsApp banned over 20 lakh accounts in India in a month, reveals first intermediary guidelines report

WhatsApp on Thursday published its first intermediary guidelines report in compliance with the new Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The Facebook-owned messaging app revealed that it banned over 29 lakh accounts between May 15 - June 15, 2021.

The company further shared some details around the ban and added that over 95 per cent of such account bans are because of unauthorized use of automated or bulk messaging which can be classified as Spam. WhatsApp adds that the global monthly average is about 8 million accounts banned or disabled every month.

The messaging app has also shared a breakdown of the grievances it received from various parties between May 15 to June 15, 2021. As per the first intermediary guidelines report, the messaging app received 70 requests for account support and 204 ban appeals, of which the app banned 63 accounts.

"We respond to all grievances received except in cases where a grievance is deemed to be a duplicate of the previous ticket. An account is actioned if an account is banned or a previously banned account is restored as a result of the complaint," WhatsApp said in its report.