Meta-owned popular instant messaging app WhatsApp has taken action against over 7.4 million ‘bad’ accounts in India to comply with the new IT norms of 2021.
According to the report, the messaging platform banned at least 7,420,748 accounts in the country between August 1-31. About 3,506,905 of these accounts were actively banned prior to any reports from users.
The Meta-owned app, in its monthly compliance report, received a record 14,767 complaint reports in August in India, and a record 71 “actions taken”.
“Account Actioned” refers to reports where WhatsApp has taken remedial action based on the report and taking action means banning an account or restoring a previously banned account.
According to the company, “This user-security report details the user complaints received and the relevant actions taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp’s own preventive measures to combat abuse on our platform.”
Moreover, the company received only one order from the country’s Grievance Appellate Committee in August and complied with it. The Center has recently established a Grievance Appeallate Committee (GAC) to address user concerns on content and related matters The panel aims to strengthen digital regulation and handle user appeals against decisions of social media platforms.
Meanwhile, as reported by WABetaInfo, WhatsApp is rolling out a new reply bar feature for quick replies to images, videos and GIFs. According to the publication, the new reply bar feature will be available when users are viewing images or videos in a conversation after they 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 the conversation and not lose context regarding shared content. To check if you’ve got the feature, open WhatsApp and then open any image, video or GIF.
