META has acknowledged a technical error that resulted in legitimate activity on some WhatsApp accounts being wrongly flagged as rule violations, the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said today.
The regulator said it received the explanation from Meta after referring complaints over suspended WhatsApp accounts to the company.
Meta found that the error was involved in more than half of the cases in the first batch submitted by MCMC.
The company said the problem was fixed towards the end of September and that affected legitimate accounts had been restored proactively, including some belonging to users who had not lodged appeals.
Meta also confirmed that there had been no changes to WhatsApp’s enforcement policies or Terms of Service.
For other cases, Meta said suspensions could be triggered by several factors, including recycled phone numbers previously linked to blocked accounts, spam or fraudulent activity, as well as usage patterns detected by WhatsApp’s security systems.
User reports are also considered, but are not the sole basis for suspending an account.
Meta said business accounts could also be flagged for spam when messages were sent without recipients’ consent or in large volumes, particularly to people who were not in the sender’s contact list.
Businesses have therefore been advised to obtain recipients’ consent before sending bulk messages.
MCMC said it had asked Meta to improve its appeal and account-recovery process so affected users receive clearer confirmation, updates on the status of their cases and information on the action taken.
Users whose accounts have been affected have been advised to use WhatsApp’s official appeal and support channels.
MCMC said it would continue monitoring outstanding cases and the improvements being made by Meta to ensure users can regain access to their accounts.
The commission said further regulatory action would be considered if Meta’s measures were found to be inadequate.- October 3, 2026
