WhatsApp’s Toughest Month Yet. How Did 84 Lakh Accounts Get Removed In India?

Perhaps one of the most used messaging apps in India, WhatsApp carries more than 500 million users. It forms a vibrant part of many’s lives, not just for conversation but also for communication. However, it also faces the big challenge with so many users – how to keep itself safe from those who misuse it. In this regard, WhatsApp made a stern response in August 2024 by suspending 84.58 lakh (8.45 million) accounts in India as part of its measures where it was dealing with the issue of protecting its user base from scam activities, spamming, and the spread of misinformation.

The question is, how can it ban such a huge number of accounts in one month, what made it take such a massive crackdown? To know more, let’s understand why such an account ban happens, and what can be done to prevent this kind of thing from happening in the future.

WhatsApp August 2024 Report

According to the Mint, WhatsApp finally published its first transparency report in August 2024. It is a measure under India’s Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules of 2021. This measure obliges significant online platforms like WhatsApp to explain in greater detail how it deals with user complaints and what measures it takes in ensuring safety on its platforms.

This means WhatsApp has banned 84.58 lakh accounts in India during just a month. It is a humongous number and goes on to reflect the scale of the problem. The number of proactively banned accounts stands at 16.61 lakh, whose accounts had already been blocked even before any user complaint was filed. In most cases, that task is taken by the automatic systems of WhatsApp, detecting spamming or bulk messages to ban the accounts.

The report was also quite interesting by pointing to the fact that WhatsApp received 10,707 user complaints during the month of August. It included a litany of appeals from various complainants complaining that their accounts were banned, raised safety concerns, or requesting help relating to account support. In any case, out of the total 10,707 complaints, however, only 93 led to direct action, because WhatsApp determined that most of them did not qualify for banning accounts.

However, why were so many accounts banned? Let’s approach the main reasons for this step by step.

Why Does WhatsApp Ban Accounts?

The WhatsApp policy states what one can and cannot do with the application on it. These protocols usually reside in their Terms of Service and are to be followed by every user from the time this individual signed up for the application. Their accounts may be banned should they break these rules; among the most common reasons for such a ban include the following:

Spamming and Bulk Messaging

The main reasons for banning accounts are spamming. This refers to when the user sends unsolicited messages to many people at once. Frequently, such messages are for some promotional messages or part of a scam. For instance, companies advertise on WhatsApp to hundreds or thousands of people who never agreed to receive such. This mode of messaging places opposite rules on the side of WhatsApp, which may lead to a banning of the account because it causes bad experiences to users.

In this system, WhatsApp can flag and subsequently ban accounts that, in a short period, have sent a high number of messages. Accounts sending the same message to numerous recipients within a certain period are also under surveillance because these actions are a common practice among spammers. No user complaint is ever necessary to get an account banned when these practices are identified by the system.

Scams and Fraudulent Activities

It is among these tools that the fraudster uses in different forms of scams. For instance, via WhatsApp, a scammer can come to you masquerading in a fake identity portraying themselves as your bank, local government, or big company to ask for specific information or some cash. A common scam message would be “congratulations you have won a prize.” If you received that sort of message, it would ask you to pay a fee to get the money or prize. Such a message is just a trick whereby they steal money or your personal details.

Scams represent the biggest fears for WhatsApp since, apart from causing harm to the victims, they tarnish the reputation of the platform. WhatsApp has developed more sophisticated systems, employs machine learning, and detects fraudulent accounts that bring and block their activities. When detected as being part of a scam, it also prevents the account from further causing harm.

Harmful Content and False News

Misinformation is another huge issue on WhatsApp, particularly in a country like India, where millions use the application. Misinformation is false or misleading information deliberately or unknowingly spread. In such scenarios, for instance, during the COVID-19 period, there are innumerable instances of fake health information passing along from person to person on WhatsApp, creating confusion among users and bringing on panic.

Also, the company has made a number of measures in an effort to slow the spread of misinformation across its platform. First, it has limited how many times a message may be forwarded. This means that regardless of how false the news is, a message can only go to a certain number of people, meaning there is less chance of false information spreading wildly. An account that may carry harmful content or perpetuate false news/ rumours can also be barred from existing.

User Complaint And Grievances

There are also complaints and grievances by users that WhatsApp looks into. In August 2024, alone, for example, the platform replied to 10,707 complaints lodged by users in India. Appeals for bans-that is when a user wanted their banned account reinstated-fall within its remit as do cases of harassment or abuse, as well as technically problematic accounts requiring some form of assistance.

Not all complaints, however, culminate into an action: Out of over 10,000 complaints sent in August alone, only 93 of those reported had apparently prompted an action from WhatsApp. That is because not all complaints deserve that the person’s account be banned. For instance, a user may complain that the other person is rude in communication, but surely, this cannot be enough reason to ban their accounts. The company instead concentrated on more extreme offences such as scams, harassment, and even violence. It banned accounts with illegal acts of terrorism, drug trafficking, and even human smuggling.

Illegal Activities

Lastly, WhatsApp banned accounts which have been associated with any illegal activities at all. This can be anything from a general approach like planning a crime to selling them their illicit products. In this respect, WhatsApp collaborates with the law to identify and bar an account that has been proved to engage in illegal activities. The moment an account has been proven to have operated illegally, the application marks it for deletion.

Challenges of Safe WhatsApp upkeep

The efforts provided to keep the platform safe are substantial despite their efforts. Many factors contribute to this persistence of problems on the platform, including spamming, scamming, and spreading false information. Some of these key challenges are as follows:

The most widely used messaging application is WhatsApp, and it has over 500 million users in India. It has a big user base; spammers and scammers prefer using it because they can allegedly reach as many people as possible. However, with the most advanced systems in place to detect and block malicious activities, it takes a lot of work for WhatsApp to catch every infraction since it sends millions of messages per day.

In the case of scams, the scammers have to come up with new ways to scam people and succeed without getting caught. As WhatsApp is always upgrading its system against a certain kind of scams, fraudsters create other new ways by finding new ways on their own to realize their scamming. For example, assuming WhatsApp finds and blocks that form of spam messages, a more computer literate person would see to it that they went through carrying out the spam in other ways, like doing their spamming through several accounts or spreading out their scam over a greater period so that it is not found.

This cat-and-mouse play between WhatsApp and fraudsters, by far, is one of the main reasons why account suspension will continue to be necessary. Whatever the sophistication WhatsApp brings about in its detection systems, fraudsters seem to always find another loophole to continue exploiting this application.

The third one is that most of the users need to be made aware of the dangers associated with using WhatsApp. For instance, an individual may not know when there is a scam during the process, such as a phishing message or requests for people’s personal information. Some of them might not have an idea of the dangers associated with propagating misinformation if they happen to believe it’s true.

It makes it easier for the scammer to win,as well as the spread of information. Also, this makes it even harder for WhatsApp to fight such problems from the roots because its users keep falling victim to scams and spreading false information, not knowing what they might be causing.

History of WhatsApp Bans

It has been some years since WhatsApp started banning accounts continually as part of its continued efforts to keep the platform safe. The monthly increase in accounts banned by WhatsApp has been consistent with the improvement of the detection system and the tightening grip on violations of rules.

For example, in November 2023, WhatsApp said it had suspended over 7 million accounts in India. Many of them were for the same reasons as those it reportedly suspended in August 2024. This means that the problems are neither spamming, scams, nor spreading misinformation, and this is becoming so due to the expanding user base on WhatsApp.

The point is that the very scale of millions of accounts banned each month testifies to efforts required to curb the misuse of the platform.

More remains to be done in order to effectively put an end to this problem. While WhatsApp has made much effort to make its service safer, there certainly remains a lot to be accomplished in the nature of steps that would prevent such problems from arising in the future. 

Among those preventive steps include-

Educating the Users

One of the very best ways through which the incidence of scams and misinformation will be minimized is through the education of users regarding the risks involved. This is where WhatsApp has taken the lead as far as information concerning how to stay safe is concerned, but much is in the future. For instance, they can make clearer the instructions on how to know the phishing attempts and avoid any scams. They also have to know why it is important to verify before sharing with others.

Improve Reporting Mechanism

The grievance redressal system of WhatsApp has been doing all the right things in spotting and eliminating problematic accounts; however, this enhancement of reporting suspicious activities easily will be much more effective so that the complaint gets priority in the shortest possible time. Time and processes can be sped up to enhance user confidence and prevent such incidents.

Deeper Collaborations with Official Agencies

Just like WhatsApp has identified new threats and then collaborated with local enforcement agencies and regulatory authorities, if it could share patterns of fraudulent activities and new scamming patterns with local authorities, it could then crack the strong scam network operating within the country. It would also keep WhatsApp on the right track in following local laws and give it a secure platform to users.

Further Technological Development

In its defense against scams and abuse, the automated systems of WhatsApp-the machine learning to understand suspicious activity-form part of the defense mechanism for the platform. These technologies are evolving just as the scams are. Another reason for investment in advanced AI and machine learning technology is to make sure that WhatsApp remains one step ahead of bad actors.

Who’s to blame?

The question of responsibility is now a relatively more arduous affair. On the one hand, there is the responsibility imposed on WhatsApp to keep its platform safe from improper use by its users. And in this regard, the company has gone to a great extent by banning millions of accounts and developing sophisticated detection systems.

However, users have also done their fair share of ensuring that the platform is safe. The user will adhere to the policies of WhatsApp, report dubious activities and always be cautious about the risks associated with online communication.

Ultimately, there is some burden that the authorities and regulators must share. Then the governments should engage the platforms, such as WhatsApp, to have their local laws enforced on the platform and appropriate remedies meted out to those who use it to commit illegal activities.

August 2024 alone in India had witnessed a blocking of 84.58 lakh accounts on WhatsApp. However, this fight against online scams, frauds, and other malpractices will continue day after day. Although WhatsApp has taken huge steps to ensure the safety of its platform and is coupled with the gigantic user base and also the ever-changing nature of tactics adopted by scammers, this issue is going to be around for a while.

Ultimately, it depends on the integration and continued innovation of technology, education on the part of the user, and coordination between the platform, authorities, and users. Only then will we all be able to create a safer digital environment for ourselves.