WhatsApp, the Facebook-owned messaging service, was ordered by a Brazilian judge to shut down for two days. The ban took effect at midnight local time (9pm ET on Dec. 16), but amid public outcry a court in São Paulo overturned the ruling and reinstated the service after around 12 hours (link in Portuguese).
Brazil’s telecoms industry, which sees so-called “over the top” voice and messaging services delivered over the internet as a threat to its business model, has been lobbying the government for months to declare these services illegal, according to TechCrunch.
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 majority of the details of the case are being kept secret, which is permissible under Brazilian law.
