A Brazilian judge has imposed a 72-hour ban of messaging service
WhatsApp, which will begin at 1 p.m. EDT on Monday, May 2, 2016.
Photo: WILLIAM VOLCOV/BRAZIL PHOTO PRESS/LATINCONTENT/GETTY IMAGES
WhatsApp has been in blocked Brazil by a court ruling for
the second time in less than six months. The app will be blocked for 72
hours starting at 1 p.m. EDT Monday, as reported by Folha de S.Paulo, a Brazilian media outlet.
The ruling was made
on April 26 by Judge Marcel Montalban. WhatsApp, which is owned by
Facebook, has been requested to provide information on messages sent
between users who are being investigated by the federal police.
Facebook said in March that it cannot comply with the
order. “WhatsApp cannot provide information we do not have,” a statement
read. WhatsApp has end-to-end encryption, which means the company
cannot read messages sent across its network.
Service operators are complying with the court’s decision,
according to Folha de S.Paulo. If they do not comply, the operators will
be fined 500,000 reais, or $143,000.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
This incident is the second time that WhatsApp has been
banned by a Brazilian court. In December, a judge ordered a 12-hour
suspension of the app after the company did not provide data for a
separate criminal investigation. The decision was overturned on appeal,
and the block did not last the full length.
A judge in a case from February had also tried to instate a
WhatsApp block, but the decision was suspended after telecom
companies filed motions against it, Folha de S.Paulo reported.
In March, Brazilian police arrested
Facebook senior executive Diego Dzodan for defying the court order from
the previous ban. Dzodan, who is Facebook’s vice president for Latin
America, was detained for nearly 24 hours before a judge ruled it was
“unlawful coercion,” according to AFP.
“Diego's detention was an extreme, disproportionate measure,
and we are pleased to see the court in Sergipe issue an injunction
ordering his release," a Facebook representative said in a statement at
the time. “We remain willing to address questions Brazilian authorities
may have.”
WhatsApp boasts 1 billion monthly active users, and 66
percent of internet users in Latin America used the app in December
2015, according to data from Statista. WhatsApp users shared grievances
of not being able to access the app via Twitter.
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