There are reports from Reddit users claiming that WhatsApp is banning groups with suspicious names without sparing the members of the groups
WhatsApp which is a very popular chat app currently enjoying a userbase of 1.5 billion active users, has taken several steps in the last one year to curb the abuse of the app. However, at times, these steps can be a little troublesome for users like in this case where the app reportedly permanently banned the WhatsApp account of users without looking deeply into the matter.
There are posts shared on Reddit saying that the app banned groups with suspicious names without any prior intimation to the user. All these banned accounts were found to be a member of groups with malicious group titles.
One Reddit user, going by the name Mowe11, posted on the discussion website about the ban saying that he faced a permanent ban from WhatsApp because one person changed the university’s name group to an abusive name. Later in the day, the entire group including him was banned from the platform. Upon reaching the WhatsApp contact support, all of them received an automatic response saying that they had violated the company’s rules.
Another Reddit user etrec89 along with a group of about 50 persons was permanently banned because somebody in the group changed the name of the group using a malicious name. Although this changed lasted for not more than 1 minute, the entire group was banned.
FranciscoAlfaro, another Reddit user wrote that he was in a school group with around 100 people wherein all of them were banned. He said that he was banned when he didn’t see or respond to any of the messages shared in that group.
All of these users received an automatic response from WhatsApp saying that their accounts were banned because they violated the rules and no further assistance would be provided to them on this. Users were left no other option than to get a changed phone number.
The chat app has recently tweaked its way of people adding members to a group. It has introduced a group invite feature that will let you decide who can add you to a group.
The new group privacy control includes three options- Everyone, My Contacts, or My Contacts except. Choosing Everyone will allow anyone to add you to a group. Next up is the My contact which allows only members in your contact list to add you to a group. My contacts except..bars people who are not in your contact list from adding you to a group. In this case, you will receive an invite to join the group which you can accept or decline. This invite link expires automatically after 72 hours.
