WhatsApp banned 2 million accounts in India, disclosure under new IT rules shows

WhatsApp banned 2 million accounts in India between May 15 and June 15, the Facebook-owned messaging platform revealed in its first-ever transparency report published under India’s new Information Technology rules.

India’s Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules 2021, require social media companies with more than 5 million users to publish a periodic compliance report, outlining details of the complaints they receive from users and the subsequent action they take to address the issues raised.

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Facebook and Instagram have already published their compliance reports.

WhatsApp said that its move to ban the accounts was based on complaints received from users in India. The bans were also a result of its prevention and detection methods to identify accounts that violate Indian laws or the company’s terms of service.

According to WhatsApp, more than 95% of the accounts that were banned had engaged in “bulk messaging.”

“Keep in mind, we ban the vast majority of these accounts proactively, without relying on any user reports,” the company said in a statement.

“N/A” denotes grievance topics where it’s not applicable to act. / Photo credit: WhatsApp

The compliance report comes after WhatsApp challenged a traceability clause in the new IT Rules with the Delhi High Court.

India’s new IT rules require social media companies to furnish details of the originators of certain information when asked by the government “for the purposes of prevention, detection, investigation, prosecution, or punishment of an offense related to sovereignty and integrity of India.”

WhatsApp has objected to the clause, saying the move could affect its end-to-end encryption, a privacy layer that ensures no one except the sender and receiver can read a message.