Of the total reports received, 449 pertained to 'ban appeal' while others were in the categories of account support, product support and safety, among others. The government is in the midst of formulating new social media norms that propose to give users a grievance appeal mechanism against arbitrary content moderation, inaction, or takedown decisions of big tech companies.Īccording to the latest report, as many as 598 grievance reports were received, and 19 accounts were 'actioned' between August 1 and August 31, 2022. The tougher IT rules, which came into effect last year, mandate large digital platforms (with over 50 lakh users) to publish compliance reports every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken.īig social media firms have drawn flak in the past over hate speech, misinformation and fake news circulating on their platforms.Ĭoncerns have been flagged by some quarters time and again over digital platforms acting arbitrarily in pulling down content, and 'de-platforming' users. Over 22 lakh Indian accounts were banned by WhatsApp in June on the basis of complaints received via its grievance redressal channel and through its own mechanism to detect violations.Įarlier, 19 lakh such accounts were banned by WhatsApp in May, 16 lakh accounts in April, and 18.05 lakh in March.

'Between 1 August 2022 and 31 August 2022, 2,328,000 WhatsApp accounts were banned. 1,008,000 of these accounts were proactively banned, before any reports from users,' WhatsApp said in its monthly compliance report.Īn Indian account is identified via a +91 phone number. This is lower than the level seen in the previous month. Over 23.87 lakh Indian accounts were banned by WhatsApp in July.

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