More than 20 lakh WhatsApp accounts were banned between May 15 and June 15 in India to prevent online abuse and keep users safe, the Facebook-owned instant messaging platform said on Thursday in its monthly compliance report.
The report, mandated with the country’s new Information Technology Rules, has to list details of actions taken by social media and communication platforms like WhatsApp and Twitter. “We consistently invest in technology, people and processes to keep our users safe and secure… Our top focus is preventing accounts from sending harmful or unwanted messages at scale. We maintain advanced capabilities to identify these accounts sending a high or abnormal rate of messages and banned 2 million accounts in India alone from May 15 – June 15 attempting this kind of abuse,” WhatsApp said.
Though the report marked WhatsApp’s compliance with conditions listed in the new IT rules, the company has filed a legal complaint in Delhi against the Indian government, seeking to block regulations that came into effect last month, that experts say would compel the firm to break privacy protections. The lawsuit asks the Delhi High Court to declare one of the rules a violation of privacy rights in India’s constitution since it requires social media firms to identify the “first originator of information” when authorities demand it.
News Source : Live Mint
