Judge suspends WhatsApp in Brazil for 48 hours

Late Wednesday, a judge had barred the wildly popular messaging app for 48 hours after WhatsApp failed to respond to two court orders “in a criminal investigation”, according to a court ruling.

A Brazilian judge on Thursday requested the lifting of a 48-hour suspension of the administrations in Brazil of Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp telephone informing application, toppling a request from a lower court.

The ban order bobs up from an illegal proceeding in the Sao Paulo State Justice hearing in Sao Bernardo do Campo. Citing Brazil’s constitutional principles, Judge Xavier de Souza said that it does not seem reasonable that millions of users are being affected due to the failure of the company (WhatsApp) to provide information to the court.

Following the initial ban, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said it was a “sad day for Brazil” and hoped the courts would “quickly reverse course”.

The WhatsApp ban may just be the start of Brazilian authorities trying to control citizens’ online behaviour. This means 100 million Brazilians were deprived of the free service, among which many young and poor citizens who can not afford Brazilian’s most expensive phone rates in the world.

That decision, which applies to all Brazilian phone companies, came in response to an anonymous petition which sought an injunction against WhatsApp.

WhatsApp was reportedly ordered multiple times over the summer to halt its service, and after failing to do so, judge Sandra Regina Nostre Marques ordered the service to be blocked from Brazil’s end. The survey showed 93 percent of the 2,000 people researched said they use the messaging service. The app, which operates on just about every mobile platform, was acquired by Facebook a year ago for $19 billion.

“This is a sad day for Brazil”, says Zuckerberg.

According to the 24-hour Band News TV network, the case involves a drug trafficker who allegedly used the WhatsApp service in the commission of crimes.

However, the union representing Brazil’s cell phone service operators, SindiTelebrazil, denied in a statement the companies were the plaintiffs in the case.