WhatsApp finally attacking outside companies who abuse its platform – TechCrunch

WhatsApp So far, she has relied on her past relationships with bad players in her platform to step up her efforts to reduce spam and other automated behaviors. Facebook The US giant has announced a further step it intends to take this year to improve the health of its messaging service: to attack those whose malicious activities can not be traced within its platform.

The messaging platform, used by more than 1.5 billion users, confirmed Tuesday as of Dec. 7 that it would begin to take into account the signals of its platform in order to improve the platform. prosecute those who abuse their system. The company will also attack people who – or companies – who falsely claim to have found ways to cause considerable damage to the service.

The move comes as WhatsApp struggles with issues such as the behavior of spam to push its agendas or the spread of false information on its messaging service in some markets. "This means we will take legal action against companies for which we will only have evidence of non-platform abuse if these abuses persist beyond December 7, 2019 or if these companies are badociated with evidence of misuse." Abuse on the platform before that date. , "He said in an FAQ article on his site.

A spokesperson for WhatsApp confirmed the move to TechCrunch, adding, "WhatsApp was designed for private messaging. So we have taken steps globally to prevent mbad messaging and impose limits on how WhatsApp accounts that misuse WhatsApp can be used. We have also strengthened our ability to identify abuses, which helps us ban 2 million accounts worldwide each month. "

Earlier this year, WhatsApp had announced (PDF) having implemented a machine-learning system to detect and eliminate users who were engaging in inappropriate behavior, such as sending messages in mbad or the creation of multiple accounts with the intention of harming the service. The platform said it was able to evaluate past relationships with problematic behaviors to prohibit 20% of non-performing accounts at the time of registration.

But the platform still seeks to contain abusive behavior, a Reuters report requested last month. The news agency reported that tools were easily sold in India for less than US $ 15. which claimed to circumvent some of the restrictions introduced by WhatsApp in recent months.

TechCrunch understands that with today's changes, WhatsApp is attacking the same bad players. He has already started sending banning letters to marketing companies claiming to have abused WhatsApp in recent months, said a person familiar with the case.