WhatsApp banned 70 million Indian accounts in 2023, probing election fraud

WhatsApp banned some 70 million accounts in India between January and November 2023, according to the messaging app’s monthly reports.

Meta-owned WhatsApp said for Lok Sabha elections it is “actively investigating” all reports of fraud and illicit telemarketing to comply with Rule 4(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules, 2021).

According to WhatsApp, the “reports are published in accordance with Rule 4(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 (IT Rules, 2021). These reports contain information on actions taken by WhatsApp in response to: Grievances received from users in India via the grievance mechanisms of WhatsApp; Accounts actioned in India through our prevention and detection methods for violating the laws of India or WhatsApp’s Terms of Service.”

Between March 1 and 31 this year, WhatsApp took action against 7.9 million accounts. As outlined in a report issued by WhatsApp in January 2024, the company had banned 69 million accounts till November 31 the preceding year.

In January 2023, WhatsApp banned 2.9 million accounts, followed by 4.5 million accounts in February, 4.7million in March, 7.4 million in April, 6.5 million in May, 6.6 million in June, 7.2 million in July, 7.4 million in August, 7.1 million in September, 7.5 million in October, and 7.1 million in November.

With the imminent release of another report featuring December data, it is expected that this figure will surpass the 70 million mark. Additionally, WhatsApp highlighted that over 20 million of these accounts were proactively banned before any reports from users were received.

“The data shared highlights the number of Indian accounts banned by WhatsApp…using the aforementioned abuse detection approach, which also includes action taken in furtherance to negative feedback received from users,” stated WhatsApp.

According to the monthly reports, WhatsApp received over 79,000 grievances from users between January and November last year, covering account support, ban appeals, other support, product support, and safety concerns. In response, the platform took action against 2,398 accounts.

“‘Accounts Actioned’ denotes reports where we took remedial action based on the report. Taking action denotes either banning an account or a previously banned account being restored as a result of the complaint,” said WhatsApp.

“Reports may have been reviewed but not included as ‘Actioned’ for several reasons, including – The user requires assistance from us to access their account; The user requires assistance to use one of our features. The user is writing to us to provide feedback regarding our service; The user requests restoration of a banned account and the request is denied; The reported account does not violate the laws of India or our Terms of Service,” it added.