WhatsApp, an instant messaging platform from Meta has banned over 71 lakh bad accounts in India. The move was taken in September (2023) in compliance with the updated IT Rules 2021 which was implemented between September 1-30, and during the span of a month, the company banned around 71,11,000 accounts in India. Around 25,71,000 of the banned accounts were proactively blocked before any reports from the users were raised- WhatsApp claimed it in the monthly compliance report.
Record ‘actioned’
The most mused instant messaging platform has around 500 million users in India, and it received another record of 10,442 complaints in the month of September in the country itself. As per the reports, the record ‘actioned’ was 85.
Accounts Actioned
‘Accounts Actioned’ denotes the reports in which WhatsApp took remedial action on the basis of the report and it took action which indicates either banning of an account or a previously banned account which was restored as a result.
WhatsApp stated, "This user-safety report contains details of the user complaints received and the corresponding action taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp's own preventive actions to combat abuse on our platform.”
It was reported that WhatsApp received around six orders from the Grievance Appellate Committee in the country in September (2023) and complied with it.
In order to empower millions of social media users in India, the Centre has recently unleashed the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) which looked into the concerns related to the content and other issues.
What is the work of the newly formed panel?
The newly formed panel has been created to strengthen the digital laws of India. They would like to tame the Big Tech companies, and it will further look into the appeals by users, against the decisions of social media platforms.
In an official statement, WhatsApp stated, "We are an industry leader among end-to-end encrypted messaging services in preventing and combating abuse. In addition to our safety features and controls, we employ a team of engineers, data scientists, analysts, researchers, and experts in law enforcement, online safety, and technology developments to oversee these efforts.”
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Inputs from IANS
