96% of WhatsApp Users Receive Daily Commercial Spam
A recent report by Local Circles reveals that 96% of WhatsApp users receive commercial spam messages every day. This news comes as the Supreme Court recently directed Meta Platforms, the owner of WhatsApp, to file a legal undertaking. The court wants a guarantee that user data will not be used for advertising purposes.
The court warned Meta that if it does not comply, it may dismiss the company’s case against the Competition Commission of India (CCI). The CCI previously fined WhatsApp Rs 214 crore over its 2021 Privacy Policy, which was designed to increase data sharing for business use.
Survey Findings on WhatsApp Spam
Local Circles surveyed 13,362 users to understand the scale of the problem. The results show how frequently people are targeted:
- 54% of users receive one to three spam messages daily.
- 30% of users receive four to seven spam messages daily.
- 11% of users receive eight or more spam messages every single day.
During community discussions, users noted that many of these messages arrive through the WhatsApp Business feature. This tool allows businesses to pay the platform to send messages to users.
Fraudulent Activities and User Concerns
The report highlighted a specific example of fraud involving an account named “FinanceBuddha.” This account sent messages to many users claiming their loan applications were approved. Even though none of the recipients had applied for a loan, the account spammed them for 45 days.
Users in the study expressed concerns that WhatsApp might be ignoring these activities or even enabling them to increase company revenue.
Top Sources of Spam
The majority of these unwanted messages come from two specific industries. Real estate and financial services firms are responsible for 71% of the spam messages reported by users.
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