WhatsApp India Deactivated 7.2 Million Accounts In A Single Month But Indian Government Wasn’t Involved

Meta-owned WhatsApp banned more than 7.2 million accounts in India. These accounts were deactivated in the month of July 2023.

WhatsApp took action against 7,228,000 accounts but the deactivation was not requested by the Indian government. Let's see why WhatsApp will continue to close down accounts in India unilaterally.

WhatsApp Fighting Frauds And Scams By Actively Banning Accounts

WhatsApp banned more than 7.2 million accounts because they were engaged in scams, frauds, and spam. The instant messaging platform has confirmed that it is trying to address the growing menace by disabling accounts with suspicious activities.

Online scams have increased significantly in the last few months. Notably, scammers are contacting their potential victims on WhatsApp. Most of the scams involve simple, work-from-home job offers. Although not highly effective, this spam and its number keeps increasing and refuses to die.

In its report, WhatsApp shared details about the accounts that it banned in the country, the number of reports it received, and the action taken pertaining to those accounts.
WhatsApp announced that out of the 7,228,000 banned WhatsApp accounts, 3,108,000 accounts were banned even before users reported them:

"We are an industry leader among end-to-end encrypted messaging services in preventing and combating abuse. In addition to our safety features and controls, we employ a team of engineers, data scientists, analysts, researchers, and experts in law enforcement, online safety, and technology developments to oversee these efforts."

WhatsApp Requests Users To Actively Block and Report Suspicious Accounts Using In-App Methods

WhatsApp released an update earlier this year which made it very easy to quickly report and/or block an account they considered to be suspicious. The platform has indicated that users have been actively complying with its request:

"We pay close attention to user feedback and engage with specialists in stemming misinformation, promoting cybersecurity, and preserving election integrity."

"Blocking and Reporting suspicious messages/ calls is an important step to effectively combat scams and when users receive calls from unknown international or domestic phone numbers, WhatsApp provides a convenient way to block and report suspicious accounts."

"It's important to report these accounts to WhatsApp so that we can take the required action against and ban them from the platform. Users can also control who sees their personal details and their online presence by using our privacy controls. Keeping your personal details visible to only your contacts can help safeguard your account against bad actors."

Several scams on WhatsApp seem to be originating from different countries like Ethiopia (+251), Malaysia (+60), Indonesia (+62), Kenya (+254), Vietnam (+84), and others. The platform is well aware of the same.

WhatsApp has been trying to address this menace using Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI). However, the scammers have been relentless.