WhatsApp revealed that starting from December 7, this year, it will begin taking legal action against all people and companies that will be violating its terms of service. Medianama notes as an example, people or companies who are sending automated or bulk messages or people who are engaging in “non-personal” use.
The online publication noted that “WhatsApp said it would take action even if an entity merely made public claims of an ability to abuse its platform – in ads, for example.”
So far, WhatsApp has only taken legal action against abuses of which it had found evidence on the platform itself.
This development will reportedly have some massive ramifications in India. Just in case you didn’t know, India is one of the app’s most important markets with more than 200million monthly active users.
Rampant abuse of WhatsApp in India
There, it seems that the abuse of the platform is critical.
A WhatsApp spokesperson told the online publication mentioned above in a statement that it has taken action to prevent bulk messaging because the app has been created for private messaging.
We’ve also stepped up our ability to identify accounts that misuse WhatsApp and ban them from our service,” the spokesperson said.
More than that, back in May 2019, a Reuters investigation has reportedly found that the political party workers and the digital marketers in India have been using “WhatsApp clones such as GBWhatsApp and JTWhatsApp, and software tools that cost less than Rs 1,000 to bypass WhatsApp’s anti-spam measures.”
According to the report, some BJP and Congress workers used free clones of the app for manually forwarding messages in bulk and more. We strongly recommend that you take a look at the investigation mentioned above.
It’s also important to mention that WhatsApp released a white paper back in February, in which it said it was deleting 2 million accounts a month for bulk or automated behavior in order to help stop the spreading of fake news and misinformation.
After finishing Theatrical Journalism at the Faculty of Theatre and Television in Cluj-Napoca, Rada reviewed movies, books, theatre pieces and she also wrote articles from the IT niche as a content editor for software producers. At the moment, she is working with various online advertising firms.
