WhatsApp bans over 36 lakh malicious accounts in India in Dec

Meta-owned WhatsApp on Wednesday said it banned over 36 lakh ‘bad’ accounts in India in the month of December 2022 in compliance with the new IT Rules 2021, which are being amended to put more responsibilities on social media platforms.

Between December 1 and December 31, 3,677,000 WhatsApp accounts were banned, and 1,389,000 of these accounts were proactively banned before any reports from users, said the company.

Click Here For Latest Updates On Stock Market | Zee Business Live

The messaging platform, which has more than 400 million users in the country, received 1,607 complaint reports in December in the country, and the records ‘actioned’ were 166.

“In accordance with the IT Rules 2021, we’ve published our report for the month of December 2022. As captured in the latest Monthly Report, WhatsApp banned over 3.6 million accounts in the month of December,” according to a WhatsApp spokesperson.

Also, read- Budget 2023: What is Finance Bill and how is it different from Money Bill?

Under the upgraded IT Rules 2021, major digital and social media platforms, with in excess of 5 million users, have to publish monthly compliance reports.

Meanwhile, in a major push towards an open, safe, trusted and accountable Internet, the Ministry of Electronics and IT has notified some amendments aimed at protecting the rights of ‘Digital Nagriks’.

The amendments impose a legal obligation on intermediaries to take reasonable efforts to prevent users from uploading such content.

Also, read- Budget 2023: How does India earn? What is the math behind it?