WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps, with the highest user base in India. The biggest part of its success is the platform’s focus on safety and security, and the company makes sure to take swift action on suspicious activity in order to prevent its misuse. It shut down fraudulent or harmful accounts, and recently, the Meta-owned messaging app banned over 76 lakh accounts in India in the month of February, in compliance with the IT Rules, 2021.
Between February 1 and February 29, a total of 7,628,000 WhatsApp accounts were banned, and 1,424,000 were proactively banned before any reports from users, according to the company’s monthly compliance report.
However, despite the fact that WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted, WhatsApp keeps track of several meta data.
WhatsApp, on its official website, clearly states that if they find any user doing these 5 things and violating its “Terms of Service,” it may trigger the platform to ban the account.
1. If you use third-party apps like WhatsApp Delta, GBWhatsApp, WhatsApp Plus, etcWhatsApp doesn’t permit users to communicate over a third-party application like WhatsApp Delta, GBWhatsApp, WhatsApp Plus, etc., due to privacy concerns. WhatsApp’s end-to-end encryption is one of the biggest reasons for the app’s popularity, and using unofficial WhatsApp apps comes with greater security risks. Hence, always use the official and verified versions of the WhatsApp app available on the Google Play Store and App Store to communicate to avoid the risk of a ban on WhatsApp forever.
2. If you impersonate someone and a create a fake account of another personOpening a WhatsApp account with someone else’s details can also get you banned from the platform. This includes impersonating celebrities, organisations, public figures, brands, or other users. If WhatsApp discovers that you are impersonating someone, it clearly states that your account may be permanently banned.
3. If you send too many messages to someone who is not on your contact listAs per the company’s Terms of Service, if a user misuses the platform and spams people who are not in their contact list, WhatsApp will ban their WhatsApp account. WhatsApp will take action if the user sends illegal or impermissible communications, such as auto-messaging, bulk messaging, auto-dialing, and so on.
4. If too many users blocked or report against your WhatsApp accountIf multiple users block or report your number on WhatsApp in a short period of time, your account is likely to be flagged on WhatsApp’s system, irrespective of whether these people are on your contact list or not. WhatsApp may consider your account a source of spam messages or fake news to prevent fraud on the platform.
5. Sending threatening, fake and illegal messages or videos that promote violenceThreatening users, sharing illegal content, or spreading hateful and offensive content that promotes violent crimes, endangers, or exploits children or others is yet another way to get your WhatsApp account banned.
According to its Terms of Service, WhatsApp clearly warns that you can’t send “illegal, defamatory, obscene, intimidating, threatening, harassing, hateful, racially or ethnically offensive” content on the app.
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