New DelHI: WhatsApp on Wednesday said it had blocked more than two million accounts in India in October in line with new IT rules 2021. The Meta-hosted platform received 500 complaints in the same month, and took action -18 only of those. .
“In accordance with IT regulations for 2021, we have published our fifth annual report for October. This user safety report contains details of user complaints received and related actions taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp prevention measures against harassment in our area, "said a WhatsApp spokesperson.
"As captured in a recent monthly report, WhatsApp closed more than two million accounts in October," a spokesman said. WhatsApp has more than 400 million users in India.
Meta, the newly formed parent company of Facebook and its family of apps, on Wednesday said it had removed more than 21.8 million pieces of content in October on Facebook and Instagram in India, as it undergoes an in-depth analysis of user data privacy.
In September, more than 2.2 million Indian accounts were blocked by WhatsApp while 560 complaint reports were received by the message. Nearly 2 million Indian accounts were blocked by WhatsApp while 420 complaint reports were received by the messaging forum in August.
The new IT rules - which came into effect in May - require large digital forums (with over 5 million users) to publish monthly compliance reports, state details of complaints received and action taken.