Happy emoji faces and thumbs-up signs started flashing across social media in Brazil after an appeals court judge reversed an earlier decision that had blocked Facebook Inc.’s WhatsApp messaging service in the country for about 12 hours.
Advertisement
Hence, failure to respond to the court’s order led the prosecution to ban WhatsApp in the country for 48 hours.
The Brazilian newspaper Folha said that the Sao Paulo court tried to gain access to the WhatsApp messages of an alleged gang member, but the company refused the share the messages.
WhatsApp is used by 93 percent of Brazil’s population, which Brazilian telecoms says undermines their services. “Brazilians have always been among the most passionate in sharing their voice online”, he wrote on Facebook.
The original judicial order came as part of a law enforcement investigation in which Facebook Brazil was ordered to put a wiretap on certain WhatsApp accounts, according to the company.
The court order, which commanded telecommunications companies to block the messaging service, was given by the 1st Criminal Court of São Bernardo do Campo in São Paulo.
“I am staggered that our effort to secure individuals information would bring about such a great choice by a solitary judge to rebuff each individual in Brazil who utilizes WhatsApp”, he included.
Citing local news station Band News TV, Reuters reported that the case in question involves a drug trafficker linked to the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC)-the country’s largest criminal organization-who allegedly used WhatsApp to carry out his crimes.
Individually in the court case, Brazilian phone companies have encouraged the authorities to control the usage of complimentary voice over-internet services.
Mark Zuckerberg talks about the Messenger app during the Facebook F8 Developer Conference in San Francisco, March 25.
Judge Xavier de Souza said the service should be re-instated immediately, the BBC Reports.
Advertisement
The order highlights simmering tensions between Brazilian phone companies and WhatsApp.
