He wrote on a Facebook post to denounce the WhatsApp blocking nationwide in this country, and encourage people to join event of Internet Freedom Caucus, and word spreading to save the WhatsApp in Brazil. Media reports said they would have faced fines of $140,000 a day for failing to do so.
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It is the latest standoff between the Brazilian authorities and Facebook, which said it did not have the technical ability for cooperating with such requests.
Matt Steinfeld, a Facebook spokesman, said WhatsApp executives were meeting this week with law enforcement and judicial officials in Brazil to improve communication and clarify that the company can not see users’ encrypted messages and does not store them after transmission. As the judge has ordered to shut down the service for 48 hours on December 15th, 2015.
The court order was issued by Judge Marcel Montalvao of the northeastern state of Sergipe.
According to a statement issued by the company the move affected almost half of the country’s 200 million people, many of whom use the app to conduct day-to-day business.
While the service previously offered end-to-end encryption for text, earlier this month it rolled out the security measure across all its platform’s content, including voice messages, video and group chats.
This is not the first time Brazilian authorities have ordered telecoms to block WhatsApp over its refusal to cooperate with a police inquiry.
Brazilians have found themselves without the popular messaging app WhatsApp for the second time in six months.
As of February 2016, the app has a user base of one billion people; making it the world’s most popular messaging app.
Meanwhile, Folha is helpfully providing a list of alternative communication methods so Brazilians don’t get cut off during the WhatsApp blackout.
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At least one party will be celebrating the WhatsApp ban however – rival service Telegram has reported a surge of downloads in Brazil after the block came into place.
