Meta acknowledges technical glitch that led to wrongful suspension of legitimate WhatsApp accounts

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (SKMM) announced that Meta has acknowledged a technical error in its system that wrongly flagged legitimate WhatsApp users as violators, leading to account suspensions. The regulator found the mistake in over half of the initial cases it presented to Meta for investigation. Meta reported that the glitch was resolved by the end of September and that it proactively reinstated the impacted accounts, even those that had not submitted an appeal.

While the technical fault accounted for many suspensions, Meta also cited other factors such as recycled phone numbers linked to blocked accounts, spam or fraudulent activity, and usage patterns detected by WhatsApp's security system. For business accounts, Meta warned that bulk messaging without recipient consent could be treated as spam, urging businesses to obtain approval before mass outreach. SKMM urged Meta to improve the appeal and restoration process to provide clearer, faster notifications to users.