The Familiar Culprit Behind Brazil’s WhatsApp Ban: Encryption

After WhatsApp failed to comply with a Brazilian court order to hand over user data, a judge ordered domestic telcos to block access to the app.

The initial ban was meant to go on for 48 hours but was overturned by a São Paulo judge before the first 24 hours had expired. The phone companies say the free WhatsApp calls undermine their own services.

Zuckerberg noted that Brazil had been proactive in helping to bring about an open internet, and that the 100 million WhatsApp users in the country could use Facebook messenger as a temporary alternative.

Based on comments from Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook – which owns WhatsApp – it can be inferred that WhatsApp refused to surrender the user’s data to the Brazilian authorities. “Brazilians have always been among the most passionate in sharing their voice online”, he wrote on Facebook.

Brazilian wireless operators will re-establish WhatsApp service once they are officially informed of the appeals court decision, according to SindiTelebrasil, the country’s phone-company association. The second most used app is Facebook, with 79 per cent.

The rival of Whatsapp, Telegram said on Twitter that it got 1 million downloads in Brazil in one day because of the blackout.

The suspension appeared to affect WhatsApp users outside Brazil’s borders, as hundreds in Chile and Argentina took to social media on Thursday to complain that the messaging system was also interrupted in the two countries.

The university student planned to meet friends to exchange Christmas presents on her school’s campus, but they’d meant to consult over WhatsApp on Thursday exactly where they’d gather.

Media outlets use it to obtain tips, photos and video from readers; families have chat groups to share snapshots of kids and organize family dinners; taxi drivers are constantly trading advice via WhatsApp on where traffic is bad and where clients are waiting. For that reason, the public prosecutor’s office requested the app be blocked, the statement said.

According to reports, Brazilian telecom companies received orders at midnight to shut down the voice and messaging service, after the company failed to comply with orders from the judge from July and August.