New Delhi: Instant messaging platform WhatsApp has banned more than 9.9 million accounts in India within a single month. In its latest Transparency Report, Meta revealed that 9.9 million WhatsApp accounts in India were disabled between between January 1 and January 30, 2025. This marks the largest-ever crackdown by WhatsApp in India.
The compliance report also reveals that out of the 99 lakh banned accounts, around 13.27 lakh accounts were proactively banned—meaning they were blocked before any user complaints were received.
In addition to automated bans, WhatsApp also takes action based on user complaints. In January 2025:
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9,474 complaints were filed by users regarding account violations.
Action was taken against 239 accounts, leading to their ban.
WhatsApp has cited multiple reasons for this large-scale enforcement action:Violation of Terms of Service: Accounts engaged in bulk messaging, spam, fraudulent activities, and the spread of misleading or harmful content were targeted.
Illegal Activities: Users involved in activities contravening Indian laws faced immediate bans, aligning with WhatsApp’s legal compliance measures.
User Complaints: WhatsApp has acted upon numerous user reports concerning harassment, abuse, and inappropriate behaviour. Such complaints have played a pivotal role in identifying harmful accounts.
These accounts were banned to combat abuse in compliance with the new IT Rules 2021. WhatsApp has more than 500 million users in India. According to the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, all digital and social media platforms working in India and having a cluster of more than 50 lakh customers must release a monthly compliance. The compliance report should provide the details of customer complaints received by the firms and the actions taken by the team against such reports.
As per existing regulations, WhatsApp receives grievances from users via emails sent to grievance_officer_wa@support.whatsapp.com and via mail sent to the India Grievance Officer via post.