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Meta-owned WhatsApp had banned more than 67 lakh bad accounts in India in January in compliance with the new IT Rules 2021. Between January 1-31, the company banned "6,728,000 accounts". Of these, about 1,358,000 accounts were actively banned before any reports came from users, WhatsApp said in its monthly compliance report. The most popular messaging platform, which has more than 500 million users in the country, received a record 14,828 complaint reports in January and a record 10 "actions" were taken.

“Accounts Actioned” refers to reports where WhatsApp took remedial action based on the report, and taking action means banning the account or resulting in reinstatement of the previously banned account.

According to the company, "This user-safety report includes details of user complaints and the corresponding actions taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp's own preventive measures to fight abuse on our platform." To empower millions of Indian social media users, the central government has launched a Grievances Appellate Committee (GAC) to look into their concerns regarding content and other issues. The newly formed panel, a move to strengthen the country's digital laws to rein in Big Tech companies, will look into appeals by users against decisions taken by social media platforms.

“We are the industry leader in end-to-end encrypted messaging services to prevent and combat abuse. In addition to our security features and controls, we employ a team of engineers, data scientists, analysts, researchers, and experts in law enforcement, online security, and technology development to oversee these efforts,” WhatsApp said in a statement. In December last year, WhatsApp had banned more than 69 lakh bad accounts in the country.