Brazilian judge orders mobile providers to block WhatsApp for 72 hours

Messaging service said shutdown the second in five months punishes more than 100 million users in Brazil in attempt to get information amid court case

A Brazilian judge has ordered wireless phone carriers to block access to Facebook Incs WhatsApp for 72 hours throughout Latin Americas largest country on Monday, the second such move against the popular messaging application in five months.

The decision by the judge in the north-eastern state of Sergipe applies to the five main wireless operators in Brazil and affects WhatsApps more than 100 million users in the country. The reason for the order is not known due to legal secrecy in an ongoing case in the Sergipe state court.

In a statement, WhatsApp said the company was disappointed at the decision after doing the utmost to cooperate with Brazilian tribunals.

The decision punishes more than 100 million users who depend upon us to communicate themselves, run their business and more, just to force us to hand over information that we dont have, the statement said, without elaborating.

It was the second time since mid-December that the text message and internet voice telephone service for smartphones has been the target of a blocking order. A So Paulo state judge ordered the service be shut down for 48 hours on 15 December, after Facebook failed to comply with an order, although another court interrupted that suspension shortly afterward.

Judge Marcel Maia Montalvo of Sergipe state is the same judge who in March ordered the imprisonment of a Brazil-based Facebook executive for failing to comply with an attempted block of WhatsApp. He was jailed and subsequently freed.

Executives at the five carriers Telefonica Brasil SA, Amrica Mvil SABs Claro, TIM Participaes SA, Oi SA and Nextel Participaes SA did not have an immediate comment.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/may/02/brazil-whatsapp-block-72-hours