WhatsApp says it will take legal action against users who send bulk and “non-personal” messages through its platform starting from December 7.
In an update to the Facebook-owned company’s FAQ section of its website, WhatsApp also said that those who help others to spam users and even companies that publicly claim to have been authorised to use its apps to send bulk messages wont be spared.
“This serves as notice that we will take legal action against companies for which we only have off-platform evidence of abuse if that abuse continues beyond December 7, 2019, or if those companies are linked to on-platform evidence of abuse before that date,” the company said.
In a white paper published in February, WhatsApp said its platform is available for use by businesses as well as individuals – but only if those businesses want to converse with one customer at a time, not for broadcast messages.
“WhatsApp was built for private messages: to help people chat with their loved ones, conduct business, or talk confidentially with a doctor. Instead of encouraging users to build an audience and share widely, WhatsApp is designed to help people share with others they know or get helpful information from a business,” it said.
This development is one of the many measures taken by the company in a bid to combat spam on its platform.
