Accessibility links

Breaking News

WhatsApp Ordered Blocked in Brazil


FILE - WhatsApp and Facebook app icons on a smartphone in New York.
FILE - WhatsApp and Facebook app icons on a smartphone in New York.

Popular messaging app WhatsApp has been blocked in Brazil for 72 hours starting Monday at 2 p.m. local time.

Judge Marcel Montalvao issued the order because the app’s parent company, Facebook, refuses to give information to the government regarding a criminal investigation.

This is not the first time WhatsApp has been in hot water in Brazil. In December it was ordered to be blocked for two days over another similar case, but access was restored after just 12 hours.

At the time, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said it was “a sad day for Brazil.”

The free app is very popular in Brazil and is estimated to be installed in over 90 percent of cell phones there. That translates to roughly 100 million phones.

According to Bloomberg news, neither Facebook nor WhatsApp has commented on the case.

  • 16x9 Image

    VOA News

    The Voice of America provides news and information in more than 40 languages to an estimated weekly audience of over 326 million people. Stories with the VOA News byline are the work of multiple VOA journalists and may contain information from wire service reports.

XS
SM
MD
LG