Facebook Inc's Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg shared his excitement on social media after learning the news that a Brazillian judge overturned the ban on the popular messenger, WhatsApp. The service was finally restored after it was blocked in Brazil for 24 hours when a state judge ordered for its suspension.
“WhatsApp is now back online in Brazil! Your voices have been heard once again. Thank you to our community for helping resolve this,” Zuckerberg shared in a Facebook post. “That said, the idea that everyone in Brazil can be denied freedom to communicate the way they want is very scary in a democracy. You and your friends can help make sure this never happens again, and I hope you get involved.”
The 31-year-old Facebook founder did not appreciate the order of the judge to suspend WhatsApp for 72 hours and he wanted to put a stop on it with the help of the users, Tech Crunch reported. And because of this incident, Zuckerberg urged the Brazilians to rally outside the nation’s Congress on Wednesday to show their support of the law that would prevent courts from blocking Internet services.
The Rio Times Online reports that the suspension of WhatsApp highlighted the failure of the company to turn over the system's data. But according to Reuters, the company has tried to comply with the court's request but they don't have such data to turn over.
This is not the first time that a Facebook Inc service has been suspended. In fact, just this March, the same judge ordered a Brazil-based Facebook executive to imprisonment after the company failed to confirm the court's request to access its encrypted messaging service as part of a drug trafficking investigation.
Back in December, WhatsApp service was also banned for 48 hours after a Sao Paulo judge ordered for its suspension after the company didn't cooperate in a criminal investigation. After all these suspensions, Brazillian fans of the messaging service are thankful that the latest ban has now been lifted.