An Israeli company has filed a request with the Central District Court in Lod seeking permission to bring a class-action lawsuit against WhatsApp, alleging that the company has arbitrarily and systematically disabled private and business accounts in Israel. The application, filed through attorneys Guy Ophir and Victoria Reznik, is valued at more than 2.5 million shekels, Bechadrei Charedim reports.
The plaintiffs claim that numerous WhatsApp users have been blocked without advance warning, without being told what violation they were accused of committing, and without being given an adequate opportunity to appeal the decision to a human representative. The application alleges that the problem has affected at least hundreds of users in Israel, and possibly thousands, with some accounts allegedly suspended after automated monitoring systems mistakenly identified legitimate activity as a violation of WhatsApp’s terms of service.
The company seeking to represent the proposed class is Tick Travel, a travel company based in Rishon LeZion, together with its manager, Dan Amram. They claim the company’s WhatsApp Business account was disabled three times over approximately eight months. The first two suspensions were reversed within several hours, but after the third suspension, the account was permanently disabled and the company was not given an opportunity to submit another request for review.
Tick Travel claims the suspension directly harmed its business because the WhatsApp account served as a primary channel for communicating with customers and suppliers. The application also argues that international corporations operating in Israel are subject to Israeli law, and that provisions in their terms of service allowing users to be disconnected on a broad scale could potentially be considered unfair terms in a standard-form contract.
The plaintiffs are asking the court for several forms of relief, including reversing account suspensions carried out unlawfully, requiring a formal warning before an account is suspended, allowing users an opportunity to correct an alleged violation, and requiring a customer-service system that provides access to human representatives.
They are also seeking compensation for financial losses and emotional distress, as well as disclosure of data showing how many Israeli accounts were disabled over the past seven years.
Attorney Guy Ophir claims that in recent months, an automated system has been used to block accounts while providing users only general explanations and no meaningful opportunity to deal with a human representative.
Meta responded that it does not comment on legal proceedings.
Importantly, the court has not yet approved this as a class-action lawsuit. What has been filed is an application asking the court to authorize the case to proceed as a class action. The allegations against WhatsApp and Meta have not yet been decided by the court.
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