Social media platform WhatsApp suspended a record 74,52,500 accounts in April, a sharp 58.02% month-on-month increase, to prevent possible online abuse. This is the highest number of accounts banned from the social media platform in over 12 months. WhatsApp suspended 47.15 lakh accounts in March, 45.97 lakh accounts in February and 29.18 lakh accounts in January.
According to “WhatsApp India Monthly Report” under Information Technology Rules, 2021, the instant messaging platform received a total of 4,377 complaints related to possible data breach, out of which actions were taken against 234 accounts. The company received 4,100 complaints with the ban complaint, out of which action was taken against 223 accounts.
The company said abuse detection occurs at three stages of an account’s lifestyle: upon registration, when messaging, and in response to negative feedback WhatsApp receives in the form of user reports and bans. A team of analysts extends these systems to assess edge cases and help improve the platform’s effectiveness over time.
“In addition to responding to and handling user complaints through the complaints channel, WhatsApp also employs tools and resources to prevent harmful behavior on the platform. “It’s all about recognizing it after harm has happened,” the social media platform said.
An increase in the number of international calls made via WhatsApp is cited as one of the main reasons for the increase in account suspensions in April. In recent months, users in India have complained that they are receiving calls from unknown international numbers on WhatsApp. These calls come from phone numbers beginning with +880 (Bangladesh), +251 (Ethiopia), +60 (Malaysia), +62 (Indonesia), +254 (Kenya) and +84 (Vietnam), among others.
According to a Truecaller report, mobile phone users in India receive an average of nearly 17 spam calls per month. The vast majority, approximately 93.5%, of all spam in India are sales or telemarketing calls. India is one of the largest markets for WhatsApp and has the most monthly active users there at around 400 million. In January 2021, the Indian Antitrust Authority launched an investigation into WhatsApp for sharing user data with its parent company Meta. The Competition Commission of India is investigating WhatsApp and Facebook for alleged violations of user privacy and competition norms.
To improve its privacy features, WhatsApp rolled out a new feature last month that allows users to put a conversation in a folder that can only be accessed with their device’s password or biometrics like a fingerprint. WhatsApp chat blocking feature allows users to protect most confidential conversations behind another layer of security. The company launches Chat Lock on WhatsApp worldwide.
