1 / 6WhatsApp banned 18.05 lakh Indian accounts in March, on the basis of complaints received from users via grievances channel and through its own mechanism to prevent and detect violations, according to a monthly report published by the messaging platform.2 / 6The new IT rules — which came into effect last year — require large digital platforms (with over 50 lakh users) to publish compliance reports every month, mentioning the details of complaints received and action taken.3 / 6According to the latest report, 18.05 lakh Indian accounts were banned by WhatsApp between March 1-31, 2022 using the 'abuse detection approach, which also includes action taken in furtherance to negative feedback received from users. An Indian account is identified via a 91 phone number.4 / 6This user-safety report contains details of the user complaints received and the corresponding action taken by WhatsApp, as well as WhatsApp’s own preventive actions to combat abuse on our platform.5 / 6As captured in the latest Monthly Report, WhatsApp banned over 1.8 million accounts in the month of March,' a WhatsApp spokesperson said.6 / 6It is pertinent to mention here that Meta-owned messaging platform, WhatsApp, had banned 14.26 lakh Indian accounts during February. Meanwhile, the WhatsApp spokesperson further said that over the years, the platform has consistently invested in Artificial Intelligence and other state-of-the-art technology, data scientists and experts, and in processes, in order to keep users safe. As many as 597 grievance reports were received, and 74 accounts were 'actioned' in March 2022.