Wave of WhatsApp suspensions sweeps across Israel, raising concerns of blocked accounts

A surge in WhatsApp account suspensions across Israel this past weekend has left many users anxious about their own accounts being blocked, prompting warnings from digital safety advocates.

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Most of the inquiries we usually receive involve reports of harmful content, abusive accounts, or harmful trends on social media. 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.

The Israel Internet Association reported a significant increase in user inquiries regarding suspended accounts. Yonatan Ben-Horin of the Safe Internet Hotline noted that this weekend's incidents differed from typical reports, which usually involve harmful content or abusive accounts. Instead, the organization received a steady stream of reports from individuals whose accounts were suspended after sending seemingly innocent messages, often to businesses or known contacts.

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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.

Investigations by the association revealed a common thread: the suspended accounts were primarily used to send messages to businesses or similar entities. Users were certain they were contacting legitimate recipients, not unfamiliar numbers. This pattern led the association to suspect that the suspensions were tied to communications with businesses, a function heavily relied upon by many Israelis.

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It's completely crazy because we're all dependent on WhatsApp to communicate with practically the entire world.

"It's completely crazy because we're all dependent on WhatsApp to communicate with practically the entire world," Ben-Horin stated. The Israel Internet Association has reached out to Meta, WhatsApp's parent company, requesting an explanation and asking them to compile data on the suspended accounts. In the meantime, they strongly advise all WhatsApp users to regularly back up their important information, as many rely on the app for personal reminders and crucial data.

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It's always the right thing to back up your information because many people also use WhatsApp as a personal reminder system. 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.