The wave of WhatsApp account suspensions across Israel over the weekend triggered widespread concern, leaving many users worried that their own accounts could be blocked.
The Israel Internet Association on Saturday advised WhatsApp users to back up important information stored in the messenger app in case their accounts were suspended as well.
Speaking on 103FM on Sunday, Yonatan Ben-Horin of the Safe Internet Hotline described the reports the organization has received, noting that this past weekend was different than what he was used to seeing.
“Most of the inquiries we usually receive involve reports of harmful content, abusive accounts, or harmful trends on social media,” Ben-Horin said.
“What happened over the weekend was different. We started receiving small but steady reports of people whose accounts had been suspended after sending an entirely innocent message to a business or someone they wanted to contact.”
After looking into the incidents, the organization realized that the connection was in who the messages were being sent to.
“We realized that all of the messages people had sent, completely innocently, were directed to businesses and similar recipients. The recipient wasn’t an unfamiliar number, but rather the business or person the sender was certain they were contacting. What we initially suspected was that many people had simply sent messages to someone who wasn’t already in their contacts.”
“It’s completely crazy because we’re all dependent on WhatsApp to communicate with practically the entire world,” he continued.
“As the Israel Internet Association, we have established reporting channels with the various platforms. Because so many Israelis were affected by this wave, and because WhatsApp is such an essential tool for all of us, we reached out to Meta. They asked us to compile the numbers of the suspended accounts. Unfortunately, we still haven’t received any answers, and I’m continuing to collect reports from people whose accounts were suspended over the weekend.”
Ben-Horin also stressed the importance of maintaining independent backups.
“It’s always the right thing to back up your information because many people also use WhatsApp as a personal reminder system,” he said. “Any important information should be backed up outside of WhatsApp, not just in Google’s or Apple’s cloud services. Those daily, weekly, or monthly cloud backups are only relevant to WhatsApp itself.”
