WhatsApp bans nearly 2 mn accounts in India; know how to restore account

tech.hindustantimes.com:

WhatsApp has banned almost 2 million accounts in India in the month of January 2022. The information comes from its monthly report under Rule 4(1)(d) of the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021. The report encapsulates the period between January 1, 2022 to January 31, 2022. According to the report, the Meta-owned company has banned 1,858,000 Indian accounts in the one month period. According to the app, the bans were implemented for violating laws in India and the terms of service of WhatsApp.

This is not the first time WhatsApp has banned a large number of accounts. Earlier, the Meta-owned company banned 3 million accounts in 46 days between June 16 to July 31, 2021. And again in November 2021, it banned 1.7 million accounts in India due to malicious behavior of certain users. With rising incidents of fake news in social media, inciting violence through forwarded messages as well as spreading hateful messages towards a group or community, WhatsApp has increased its scrutiny on the platform and has been vigilantly punishing any malicious behavior.

A significant portion of these WhatsApp bans in January also come from user reports. This is when a user reports another for harassment, threats, and inappropriate behavior including but not limited to bullying, casteist or racist comments, unwanted sexual advances and others. A user on the platform has an option to long press a message and then click the three dot menu button on top right to report a particular message and the user.

Once WhatsApp receives a complaint, it receives the particular message and five previous messages to help them form a content. The instant messaging platform also receives information regarding the