WhatsApp back in Brazil after temporary block

Brazil court lifts ban on WhatsApp: 100 million WhatsApp users can now access the service in Brazil as Brazilian judge on Thursday ordered the lifting of a 48-hour suspension of the services in Brazil of Facebook Inc’s WhatsApp instant messaging application, overturning a lower court ruling. The court ordered Brazilian carriers to block WhatsApp after the latter refused to comply with a court order requesting information.

In a nutshell, government officials feel out of the loop and believe tech companies like Facebook should do a better job handing over user information and proactively hunt down troublemakers.

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.

WhatsApp is back online in Brazil after a judge has struck down a lower court ruling that temporarily blocked the popular messaging service. 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. Consider that the ban led to heated discussions on the floor of Congress. Congressman Caio Narcio said. “What about our freedom to communicate?”

Protests on social media were widespread after the imposition of the ban, which particularly affected the users of the Movista telco network.

The Facebook and WhatsApp app icons are displayed on an iPhone on February 19, 2014 in San Francisco City.

Telegram, a rival messaging system, said that it received 1 million downloads in Brazil in one day because of the WhatsApp outage.

WhatsApp is installed on 92.5 per cent of Android devices in Brazil, according to SimilarWeb.

WhatsApp has 100m personal users in Brazil so it resulted in a sort of outrage after its text message and Internet telephone services were interrupted.