WhatsApp is most likely your go-to messaging app to communicate with friends and family and that’s exactly how the company intends to keep it. The popular messaging platform has now stated that it will take legal action against businesses engaged in or assisting others in abusing automated or bulk messaging on its platform.
The Facebook-owned entity says it is taking additional measures to prevent people and businesses from abusing its system with bulk and automated messaging. Though WhatsApp offers a Business app and API to help companies more easily communicate with customers, the company realises that these tools can be used to send out bulk or automated messages, both of which are against its Terms of Service.
“WhatsApp will take legal action against those we determine are engaged in or assisting others in abuse that violates our terms of service, such as automated or bulk messaging, or non-personal use, even if that determination is based on information solely available to us off our platform,” the Facebook-owned platform said in a statement.
The blog post posted by WhatsApp also highlights how the company bans over two million accounts every month (on an average) for bulk or automated behaviour. The platform also claims that a good 75% of such abusive accounts have been identified without any users reporting them.
How you wonder? Well, messages on WhatsApp are end-to-end encrypted, but the company can still identify abuse to some degree using unencrypted information such as profile photos or user reports and AI.
Still, some accounts find a way around WhatsApp’s AI, so now the company will begin to take legal action against abusers even if it discovers that information outside its platform.
“We will continue to provide capabilities to help businesses communicate with their customers,” said WhatsApp.
