Clarify WhatsApp’s enforcement of group chat restrictions

Determine the specific mechanisms and criteria by which WhatsApp restricts chat activity in groups whose admins violate WhatsApp’s Terms of Service, and characterize the conditions under which such restrictions are enforced in practice.

Background

The paper examines moderation practices in WhatsApp groups and notes that WhatsApp claims to restrict chat activity when admins violate the platform’s Terms of Service. However, the authors did not observe any instances of such restrictions in their dataset and emphasize that the enforcement details remain opaque. Clarifying the enforcement methods and thresholds would illuminate platform accountability and guide community governance on encrypted messaging platforms.

References

While WhatsApp claims to restrict chat activity in groups where admins violate WhatsApp's Terms of Service, it's unclear how they do so and we did not come across any groups, where WhatsApp placed such restrictions.

— One Style Does Not Regulate All: Moderation Practices in Public and Private WhatsApp Groups  (2401.08091 - Shahid et al., 2024) in Subsubsection "Consequences for Uninvolved Admins" within Section "Improving Moderation in WhatsApp Groups"