Some 96% of WhatsApp users surveyed recently said they receive “difficult or unwanted” messages every day, a new report has found.
According to a recent survey conducted by LocalCircles, only 4% of WhatsApp users said they “don’t receive any WhatsApp promotional or spam messages” on the platform. Meanwhile, 54% of the more than 13,000 respondents said they receive one to three promotional or spam WhatsApp messages per day, 30% said they receive four to seven such texts, while the remaining 11% said they receive eight or more such messages on average each day.
The survey comes a day after the Supreme Court on Tuesday struck down Meta Platforms and WhatsApp, saying they cannot “play with citizens’ right to privacy in the name of data sharing”.
Reviewing WhatsApp’s privacy policy, a bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and Vipul M Pancholi termed “silent customers” who are disorganized, digitally dependent and unaware of the implications of the data sharing policy.
Spam messages come from WhatsApp Business accounts
The survey further cited community discussions and said that such spam often comes from WhatsApp Business accounts in an “unchecked” manner.
WhatsApp Business is a service where the sender pays WhatsApp to send messages to users.
What spam messages do users receive?
WhatsApp spam messages that users receive come from various sectors such as car service centers, financial services and real estate developers, among others.
The survey asked, “In which all categories do you receive promotional or spam WhatsApp messages?
Some of the 14,281 respondents chose more than one option. The largest group, 71%, said they receive messages related to “real estate sales” and another 71% said “financial services sales.” Another 46% pointed to “providing health/pathology services”; 44% pointed to “offering work/earnings”; 24% pointed to “providing services such as RO repairs, spas, cosmetics, massages, etc.”; 19% said “online or fantasy games”;
A full 11% of respondents said they receive messages regarding “providing a mobile number, better talk time/data plans, etc.”; 21% on “other categories” not specified; and 2% of respondents did not give a clear answer.
Thus, financial services, real estate, medical/pathological services and job/earnings offer are the most common among the WhatsApp advertising or spam messages received.
Users who receive spam WhatsApp messages have found a way to stop them from their side, with 59% of respondents saying they block the numbers that send them messages. Others said they simply ignore the texts, while 3% of respondents said they mute the numbers.
