WhatsApp Banned Over 1.32 Crore Indian Accounts In 6 Months Without ‘Seeing’ Your Messages

 Majority of the smartphone users in India use WhatsApp to stay connected. While the platform has made life a lot easier, it has also become a platform of abuse. With misinformation, fake messages, scams and hate messages flowing through the Meta-owned chat app, the new IT Rules 2021 aka Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code, mandates that all significant social media platforms need to share what action they have taken to control abuse. Social media companies including WhatsApp need to share a monthly report on the same.

WhatsApp recently announced that it has blocked over 20 lakh accounts (20,79,000) in India in December 2021 as these accounts were violating the terms of use and abusing the platform. WhatsApp is an end-to-end (E2E) encrypted platform. Theoretically, this means that WhatsApp can’t read your messages. In fact, it cannot hear your calls or use any kind of content detection software to decode your messages. So, if that’s the case then how is WhatsApp banning accounts without seeing the messages? According to WhatsApp, it has an abuse detection mechanism that screens accounts in three stages: when the account is made, how messages are sent and if the account is getting reported or blocked by too many users.

OVER 1.32 CRORE INDIAN WHATSAPP ACCOUNTS BANNED IN 6 MONTHS

WhatsApp has informed the government and its users in India that over 1.32 crore accounts have been banned within just 6 months after the new IT rules were enacted. WhatsApp revealed for the first time in July 2021, that in the time period of 15 May 2021 and 15 June, 2021, 20 lakh accounts (20,11,000) were banned. In fact, every month after that, WhatsApp has banned around 20 lakh accounts on an average. After the new IT rules 2021 were passed, over 1.5 crore accounts were banned. An Indian account is identified via a +91 mobile number, which is used to register on WhatsApp.