WhatsApp bans record 7.4 million accounts in April

WhatsApp banned a record 7.4 million accounts in April, which is significantly higher than the 4.7 million accounts it took down in March.

The details were furnished as part of their monthly report published in accordance with the IT Rules 2021. The user-safety report contains details of the complaints received and the corresponding action taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp’s own preventive actions to combat abuse on their platform.

"As captured in the latest monthly report, WhatsApp banned over 7.4 million accounts in the month of April and over 2.4 million of these accounts were proactively banned, before any reports from users," a WhatsApp spokesperson said in a statement.


Additionally, the report which captures data between April 1 and April 30 revealed WhatsApp received 4,377 complaint reports. Of these, 4,100 ban appeals were made, but WhatsApp took action against 223. In all, the company said it had actioned 234 accounts. It also mentioned that it received 21 safety-related complaints but did not take any action on that front.

"WhatsApp is an industry leader in preventing abuse, among end-to-end encrypted messaging services. Over the years, we have consistently invested in artificial intelligence and other state-of-the-art technology, data scientists and experts, and in processes, to keep the users safe on our platform," the company spokesperson said.

The platform went on to add that it received two orders from the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC), both of which have been complied with.