WhatsApp Will Ban And Sue Users Who Violate The App's Terms Of Service, So Be Careful Now

WhatsApp tries to be strict about its Terms of Service. During the elections in India, it threatened to (and did) ban users that did things like spam other users or spewed hate speech.

However, it seems the company is ready to go beyond de-platforming and to the courts.

In a post on its help pages, the Facebook-owned company has promised legal action against individuals or companies that violate the ToS they agreed to when they started using the app.

"WhatsApp is committed to using the resources at its disposal-including legal action-to prevent abuse that violates our Terms of Service, such as automated or bulk messaging, or non-personal use," they wrote. "This is why in addition to technological enforcement, we also take legal action against individuals or companies that we link to on-platform evidence of such abuse. WhatsApp reserves its right to continue taking legal action in such circumstances."

To clarify, that means WhatsApp is more than likely to take you to court if you abuse its platform. However, they're not just going to try and catch you on the app. If they're instead able to find real-life evidence that you, for instance, run a spam advertising service on the app, they'll sue you then too.

"Beginning on December 7, 2019, WhatsApp will take legal action against those we determine are engaged in or assisting others in abuse that violates our Terms of Service, such as automated or bulk messaging, or non-personal use, even if that determination is based on information solely available to us off our platform," they wrote.

This includes any claims on your company website for instance that detail ways you help advertisers abuse the app to spam users with ads. So if you want to stay on WhatsApp's good side, maybe don't spam people or use any bots that do it. Because aside from getting banned, you might be out some money too.