WhatsApp banned 74 lakh accounts in India in August

Meta-owned WhatsApp banned 74 lakh accounts in August, keeping in line with IT rules, according to the latest India monthly report by the messaging platform.

Of these, 35 lakh accounts were proactively banned, before any reports from users.

The 'user-safety report' contains details of user complaints received and the corresponding action taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp's own preventive actions to combat abuse on the platform.

"Between August 1 and August 31, a total of 7,420,748 WhatsApp accounts were banned. 3,506,905 of these accounts were proactively banned, before any reports from users," it said.

An Indian account is identified via a +91 phone number.

Moreover, the company received only one order from the Grievance Appellate Committee in the country in August and complied with it. The Centre recently established the Grievance Appellate Committee (GAC) to address user concerns about content and related matters. This panel aims to bolster digital regulations and handle user appeals against social media platforms’ decisions.

Meanwhile, WhatsApp is reportedly rolling out a new reply bar feature for quickly responding to images, videos, and GIFs, as reported by WABetaInfo. According to the publication, the new reply bar feature will become available when viewing images or videos in a conversation after users install the latest WhatsApp beta for Android 2.23.20.20 update from the Google Play Store.

The new reply bar allows users to quickly respond to specific media within a chat without dismissing the current screen, making it easier to maintain the flow of conversation and not lose context regarding the shared content. To check if you have received the feature, open WhatsApp and then open any image, video, or GIF.