WhatsApp banned 29 lakh Indian accounts in January, according to the microblogging platform’s monthly user safety report.

To the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, the India monthly report is published on the first of each month.

According to IANS, the report details the company’s actions in response to grievances received from users in India via the official grievance mechanism.

The social media giant stated that it took action on accounts that violated Indian laws or WhatsApp’s Terms of Service using its prevention and detection methods.

“Among end-to-end encrypted messaging services, WhatsApp is an industry leader in preventing abuse. “We have consistently invested in Artificial Intelligence and other cutting-edge technology, data scientists and experts, and processes over the years to keep our users safe on our platform,” a WhatsApp spokesperson said.

WhatsApp claims to be deploying tools and resources to combat harmful behavior on its platform. The social media giant stated that it is especially focused on prevention because it believes in preventing harmful activity from occurring in the first place.

“The abuse detection operates at three stages of an account’s lifestyle: at registration, during messaging, and in response to negative feedback, which we receive in the form of user reports and blocks. “A team of analysts augments these systems to evaluate edge cases and help us improve our effectiveness over time,” the company said.