Brazil Judge Overturns WhatsApp Suspension

Advertisement
By Associated Press | Updated: 4 May 2016 10:21 IST
A Brazilian judge struck down an earlier court ruling to suspend messaging service WhatsApp in Latin America's biggest country for 72 hours, reactivating it on Tuesday, the day after it was shut down.

The ruling by Judge Ricardo Mucio Santana de Abreu Lima came just hours after another judge upheld an earlier judicial order suspending WhatsApp's services. The application was working again by Tuesday afternoon.

The suspension had gone into effect Monday shortly after it was ordered by Judge Marcel Maia Montalvao, in the northeastern state of Sergipe.

Advertisement

A court official in Sergipe said the suspension was ordered because WhatsApp has repeatedly failed to turn over information about its users for an investigation into drug trafficking and organized crime.

WhatsApp officials have estimated that the service is used by 100 million Brazilians.

Advertisement

"Yet again millions of innocent Brazilians are being punished because a court wants WhatsApp to turn over information we repeatedly said we don't have," the messaging service's CEO and co-founder Jan Koum said on his Facebook page after Montalvao's ruling. "We encrypt messages end-to-end on WhatsApp to keep people's information safe and secure, we also don't keep your chat history on our servers."

"We have no intention of compromising the security of our billion users around the world," he added.

Advertisement

Montalvao's suspension was the latest chapter in a dispute between Brazilian law enforcement and Facebook, which bought WhatsApp in 2014.

Calls to Facebook's offices in Sao Paulo went unanswered on Tuesday.

Advertisement

In March, Facebook's most senior representative in Latin America was detained in Sao Paulo and held overnight.

At the time, a spokeswoman for federal police in Sergipe, Monica Horta, said investigators had requested content from a WhatsApp messaging group as well as other data, including geolocation. Investigators first contacted WhatsApp several months earlier but hadn't received a response, Horta said.

Brazilian authorities also clashed with Facebook in December, when a judicial order forced telecoms to block WhatsApp for about 12 hours over its alleged refusal to cooperate with a police inquiry.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the time said he was "stunned" by the "extreme decision.

 

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.

Further reading: Apps, Social, WhatsApp
Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. OTT Releases This Week: 24, Band Melam, Nukkad Naatak, Prathichaya, and More
  2. Vivo Y6 5G Debuts With 7,200mAh Battery, 6.75-Inch Screen at This Price
  3. Redmi Note 17 Pro Max Leak Reveals Chipset, Camera Details
  4. Instagram Launches Instants App With Disappearing Photos to Rival Snapchat
  5. Honor MagicPad 3 Pro 12.3 Debuts With 10,100mAh Battery, Slim 4.8mm Profile
  6. Vivo X300 Ultra Content Creation Features Showcased Ahead of India Launch
  7. Vivo X500 Series Screen Sizes Leaked, Could Arrive With 144Hz Displays
  8. Jio Launches Youth and Gaming Plan With Snapchat+ and These Benefits
  1. Realme C100x Tipped to Launch in India Soon as Key Specifications and Design Surface Online
  2. Morgan Stanley Announces MSILF Stablecoin Reserves Portfolio for Issuers
  3. Jio Youth and Gaming Plan With Snapchat+, FanCode and Gemini Pro Launched: Price, Benefits
  4. Infinix GT 50 Pro Launched With Dimensity 8400 Ultimate, HydroFlow Liquid Cooling, Shoulder Triggers: Price, Features
  5. Adobe Previews New Agentic AI Workflows for Marketing Tasks at Adobe Summit 2026
  6. Microsoft Gaming Rebrands to Xbox, Debuts New Logo as Xbox Chief Says Company Reevaluating Exclusive Games
  7. Instagram Launches Instants App With Disappearing Photos to Rival Snapchat, BeReal
  8. Prathichaya (2026) Now Streaming Online: What You Need to Know
  9. Vivo X500 Series Tipped to Launch With 144Hz Displays, Ultrasonic Fingerprint Scanners
  10. Kelp Exploit Aftermath: DeFi Protocols Join Hands to Restore rsETH Following $293 Million Hack
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2026. All rights reserved.