WhatsApp cracks down on harmful behaviour, bans over 98 lakh accounts in India this June

WhatsApp removed more than 98 lakh accounts in India during the month of June as part of its ongoing efforts to tackle misuse and harmful behaviour on the platform, according to the company’s latest compliance report.

The Meta-owned messaging service disclosed that around 19.79 lakh of these accounts were banned proactively, without waiting for user reports, based on internal abuse detection mechanisms.

Published in line with the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the June report outlines actions taken by WhatsApp to curb violations originating from India. The platform received a total of 23,596 user complaints during the period, with action taken against 1,001 accounts. These actions included banning accounts or reversing previous bans following a review.

Out of the total complaints, 16,069 were appeals related to account bans. Following assessments, action was taken on 756 of these cases. The remaining complaints spanned categories such as account assistance, safety-related concerns, and product feedback.

WhatsApp emphasised that it considers it more effective to prevent harmful behaviour in advance rather than respond after the fact. The platform’s abuse detection systems operate at multiple levels, during account registration, while messages are being sent, and in response to user feedback or behavioural patterns flagged internally.

Meanwhile, in other news, Italy’s antitrust regulator has launched a formal investigation into Meta Platforms over claims that it misused its market dominance by integrating its artificial intelligence tool into WhatsApp without securing user consent.

The Autorità Garante della Concorrenza e del Mercato (AGCM) announced last week that the probe focuses on potential breaches of European Union competition laws. It alleges that Meta’s integration of its AI assistant into WhatsApp, introduced in March 2025, may have disadvantaged rival services by directing users toward its own tools.

According to the regulator, the Meta AI assistant was embedded into WhatsApp’s search bar, effectively introducing a new service within an existing one. The AGCM raised concerns that this move may have compelled users to interact with Meta’s AI by default, undermining fair competition and limiting consumer choice.