WhatsApp blocked in Brazil, yet again, for 72 hours

WhatsApp blocked in Brazil for the second time. The instant messaging service was earlier blocked in December 2015.

On Monday, another blackout for WhatsApp came from the courtesy of Judge Marcel Montalvão. Marcel, earlier, also ordered Facebook VP for Latin America to be detained in Sao Paulo back in Decemeber 2015. At that time, the orders for blocking WhatsApp came as a result of the company’s consistent failure to comply with the local law enforcement to give them access over private data.

Now, the turn is for WhatsApp itself as the orders have left WhatsApp blocked in Brazil for a period of 72 hours.

The ban came in effect nearly at 2 pm (Brazilian Time) on Monday.

It marks the second time within last 6 months that a Brazilian court blocked the messaging service in the country.

The move comes out as an outcome of the same case. At its worse, WhatsApp introduced end-to-end encryption recently for its text, images, and voice messages. The move implies that the company wouldn’t be able to comply with court orders to hand over access to any communication between users even if they wish to.

WhatsApp said in an official statement that the court order punishes over 100 million Brazilians who use the service to communicate and keep their businesses running, all just to force the company to hand over the info that they repeatedly said they don’t possess.

Maybe the judge found the company’s encryption move more disgusting given the fact that it was asking for the opposite.

WhatsApp was pulled out of service in Brazil back in December for 48 hours.

A court ordered a blackout of the service soon after an ultimatum against the messaging app from a unanimous third party.

The service was restored last time within 12 hours instead of ordered 48 hours, however, not before Brazilian WhatsApp users shifted to the competitor service – Telegram. The rival company seems to be enjoying the influx of new users after the latest ban.

According to reports, Telegram has already got more than a million new signups since the court’s Monday ruling on WhatsApp.

Last time when WhatsApp was blocked in Brazil, the local news read,

“In light of constitutional principles, does not seem reasonable that millions of users get affected due to the act of the company.”

Mariana Cunha e Melo, an Attorney in Brazil said that given the political crisis Brazil is struggling with, shutdown of the main medium of communication is not trivial at all. She also stated that in Brazil, from poor to rich, everyone uses WhatsApp to communicate. People talk to their friends and business partners via multiple groups, all with WhatsApp. Migrating things to Telegram every now and then isn’t a real-time solution.

Stay tuned for more updates on WhatsApp blocked in Brazil.

Read more on WhatsApp: WhatsApp now offers end-to-end encryption