WhatsApp has announced bans of around 23 lakh Indian accounts in August 2022. The action has been taken by the instant messaging platform in compliance with the new IT Rulwerewhich was implemented in 2021.
The instant messaging platform, which has around 500 million users (as per third-party data) in India received around 598 complaint reports in August in India, and the records "actioned" were 27.
"Over the years, we have consistently invested in Artificial Intelligence and other state-of-the-art technology, data scientists and experts and processes, to keep our users safe on our platform. By the IT Rules 2021, WhatsApp banned over 2.3 million (2,328,000) accounts in the month of August," said the spokesperson of WhatsApp.
The platform also banned a similar number of bad accounts in July from India itself.
Under the upgraded IT Rules 2021, major digital and social media platforms, with an excess of five million users, have to publish monthly compliance reports.
Meanwhile, during a hearing challenging the instant messaging app WhatsApp's privacy policy, the Centre told the Supreme Court this week that the contentious Personal Data Protection (PDP) Bill 2019 has been withdrawn and a comprehensive data protection Bill is being prepared.
In August, the Centre withdrew the Bill that has seen 81 amendments in the past three years, aiming to introduce a new, sharper Bill that fits into the comprehensive legal framework and protects the data of billions of citizens.
The new draft of the data protection Bill is being prepared to augment efficient usage of data since it would largely be used by the industry.
Inputs from IANS
