WhatsApp block in Brazil reversed after 24 hours

The ban imposed by a judge on WhatsApp in Brazil has been prematurely reversed. The service was unavailable for 24 hours. Mark Zuckerberg has called on all Brazilians to demonstrate against the government to avoid similar blockades in the future.

From Monday 2 p.m. local time to Tuesday afternoon, Brazilians were unable to use WhatsApp because the providers blocked access to the service. They did this on behalf of a judge, who had imposed the blockade because, according to the court, the message service would not cooperate in a police investigation. The blockade should have lasted 72 hours.

Reuters reports that the block has been lifted following an appeal ruling, in favor of WhatsApp. Despite this, about a hundred million users would have been affected by the blockade. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls on Brazilians to take action against the government in a message on his Facebook page. They can do this by signing a petition or participating in a demonstration that will take place in the capital Brasilia.

At the end of last year, a local judge in Brazil imposed a similar WhatsApp block. That was also prematurely reversed, because another judge ruled that the measure affected too many people. In March, the Brazilian police arrested the deputy director of the Latin American branch of Facebook and Instagram, because WhatsApp did not cooperate in a police investigation. Because WhatsApp has no office in the country, a judge decided to arrest the local vice president of Facebook. He was released after 24 hours.

The Brazilian government is demanding that messages sent be released in all WhatsApp cases. However, the service says it cannot meet these requests, because messages are not stored on WhatsApp servers. The service has also introduced end-to-end encryption so that the company cannot view the content of the messages.