WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram: How they dealt with Indian users' grievances
India is a massive market for Meta. The country has one of the company's largest user bases globally. The top three social media apps in terms of users are WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, respectively. Meta receives plenty of complaints against harmful accounts and content in India. Let's take a look at how the company's platforms responded to user complaints in May 2023.
Why does this story matter?
Meta publishes the India Monthly Report listing how it addressed the grievances of Indian users every month. These reports are a commentary on issues faced by social media users on three of the biggest platforms and how the tech giant deals with them. Considering India's importance in Meta's ecosystem, it is imperative the company offers Indian users the best experience.
WhatsApp banned 6.5 million accounts in April
WhatsApp is India's most popular messaging platform with over 500 million users. In May, the platform banned 6,508,000 accounts. Out of these, 2,420,700 accounts were banned before receiving any complaints from users. In April, the company banned a record 7.4 million accounts. WhatsApp received 3,912 grievance reports, including ban appeals and account support. It took remedial action in 297 of them.
Instagram acted against around 40% of grievance reports
Instagram received 16,267 grievances from users through the Indian grievance mechanism, up from 9,676 in April. The company took action against 3,828 without any special review. Of the remaining 12,439 reports, it acted against 2,671 after a special review. Only around 40% of reports were successful. The platform did not take any action against the rest.
Platform provided tools in only 5% of hacking-related complaints
Instagram provided tools in only 5% of cases where users reported about their account being hacked, around 18% in bullying and harassment-related complaints, and about 20% in grievances about inappropriate or abusive content.
Facebook acted against only 27% of reports
Facebook received 16,995 grievance reports. The platform acted against a total of 4,624 or 27% of complaints. Most complaints from Facebook users were about inappropriate or abusive content and bullying or harassment. It provided tools in less than 10% of reports in both cases. The platform acted in 89 out of 90 reports about users appearing in content they don't want to be displayed.
