WhatsApp says it is fixing issue that disabled several accounts

For the last few hours, several people across social media have reported that their WhatsApp accounts were blocked and put “under review” by Meta. The company, responding to TechCrunch’s inquiries about the matter, said it is working on restoring access to these accounts.

According to posts from those affected on X and Threads, many users were suddenly unable to use their accounts. When they tried to log in, WhatsApp displayed a screen reading: “Your account activity and device info is being checked to make sure it follows our Terms of Service. We’ll notify you of the result typically within 24 hours.”

Meta’s chat app has more than 3 billion monthly active users worldwide, making even a proportionally small disruption one that can affect thousands of users.

Meta acknowledged the issue and told TechCrunch the company is working on resolving it. However, it didn’t specify whether users in particular regions were affected, or what caused the problem.

“We are always working to stay ahead of those trying to abuse our service and ban accounts to help keep other users safe. Sometimes we get this wrong, and if we do, we try to fix it as quickly as possible to get people back to chatting. We’ve taken action to restore affected accounts,” a company spokesperson said.

The company did not provide details on what caused a batch of accounts to go under review.

Why it matters

WhatsApp’s scale means even a narrow moderation glitch can lock out large numbers of users worldwide, and the lack of a stated cause leaves open whether the issue could recur.