WhatsApp banned 5.1 million accounts in June: Here’s what can get your account banned
Meta recently admitted that a WhatsApp glitch wrongly locked out legitimate users recently, after its automatic content moderation system mistook normal account activity for spam or abusive behaviour. Earlier this month, multiple WhatsApp accounts were put under review for over 24 hours in several countries, prompting affected users to flag the issue on social media. Many reported seeing this message on their screen: “Account in review. Date requested: 3 Aug 2026. Your account activity and device info is being checked to make sure it follows our terms of service. We will notify you of the result typically within 24 hours.”In a statement to TechCrunch, a Meta spokesperson confirmed the locks were an error, not a rule violation. The spokesperson said the company is constantly trying to identify fraudulent accounts to keep the platform safe, but acknowledged that “mistakes can occur.” “Our goal is always to be one step ahead of those who want to abuse our service to ban accounts so that everyone can use it safely, sometimes we miss the mark and when we do, we work to remedy it as soon as possible to get everyone back to chatting,” the spokesperson added.The scale of WhatsApp’s moderation gives context to how something like this happens. In June alone this year, WhatsApp banned 5.1 million accounts in India — a volume of automated enforcement large enough that legitimate accounts can occasionally get caught in the net alongside genuine bad actors.
Why WhatsApp bans an account
WhatsApp says it bans accounts whose activity violates its Terms of Service — most commonly spam, scams, or behaviour that compromises other users’ security. “We ban an account if we believe its activity violates our Terms of Service. For example, if an account is engaging in spam or scams, or if it compromises the security of WhatsApp users,” the company states on its official FAQ page.Temporary bans work differently and have narrower causes. One is using an unofficial, third-party version of WhatsApp — apps that imitate the platform but aren’t supported by the company because it cannot verify their security protocols. The other is “scraping,” which WhatsApp defines as the automated collection of user information, either individually or at scale, for purposes not permitted on the platform. This can include harvesting phone numbers, profile photos, and status updates without consent.
What can get your WhatsApp account banned
WhatsApp says users hit with a temporary ban for either reason should switch to the official app or stop scraping immediately. Continuing the behaviour, the company warns, can escalate a temporary restriction into a permanent ban.But as this month’s incident shows, a restriction doesn’t always mean a rule was actually broken. Meta itself has now acknowledged that its automated systems can misidentify legitimate accounts as spam or abusive — resulting in real users being locked out through no fault of their own.
What a WhatsApp ban actually locks you out of
A permanently banned account shows the message “This account can’t use WhatsApp” when the user opens the app. The impact goes beyond simply being unable to send or receive messages — WhatsApp says users also lose access to their chat history and backups while the ban is in place. Backups tied to the affected phone number remain inaccessible until that number is unbanned.A temporary restriction, as seen in this month’s incident, can work differently — some users were simply told their account was under review while WhatsApp checked their activity and device information against its Terms of Service, rather than being locked out outright.
How to appeal a WhatsApp account ban
Where the option is available, users can open WhatsApp and tap “Send review request.” WhatsApp says it will examine the account and send a notification once a decision has been made. Users can track the status of their request from within the app itself.The company reviews only one phone number per appeal, and says contacting it repeatedly during the review — or using someone else’s account to follow up — will not speed up the process or change the outcome. If no review option appears at all, WhatsApp treats the ban as permanent and non-appealable through this process.WhatsApp also warns users against paying third-party services that claim they can restore banned accounts, stating plainly that such services have no ability to ban or unban an account. Only WhatsApp itself can lift a restriction and restore access.For now, Meta hasn’t detailed how many users worldwide were affected by the glitch or confirmed whether a fix has fully rolled out — so anyone still seeing “Account in review” beyond the stated 24-hour window may be better served trying the in-app appeal than simply waiting it out.
