WhatsApp removed 10 lakh plus accounts in February: report

Pune: The instant messaging application WhatsApp has banned 10 lakh plus accounts between February 1 to 28, 2022, the app's latest transparency report informed. The removal of the accounts was based on problematic activities such as harassing users, forwarding fake news etc., The Indian Express reported.

The report is published in line with the Rule 4(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which mandates all social media intermediaries' compliance with the IT rules 2021 and publish transparency reports on all the grievances received, actions taken etc. The February report is the ninth one by WhatsApp, it said in a statement.

In the statement, WhatsApp's spokesperson said how the platform induced Artificial Intelligence and other state-of-the-art technology, data scientists and experts etc., to ensure users' safety. In addition to the grievances and the actions taken, the current report features the preventive measures taken by the platform to restrict abuse, the statement said.

According to the statement, the platform has introduced tools and resources to resist harmful behaviour. The app focuses on prevention because the company believes in preventing harmful behaviour than acting after the harm has occurred.

WhatsApp detects abuses at three stages of an account, namely registration, during messaging and in response to feedback. WhatsApp receives them in the form of user reports or blocks, and later an analysts' team go through the reports or blocks, assesses them and helps the platform improve.

WhatsApp had removed 18.5 lakh plus accounts in January and 20 Lakh plus in December.