RIO DE JANEIRO: A court in Brazil has ordered to block WhatsApp phone-messaging application for 48 hours for failure to comply with a July court order in a criminal case.
SindiTelebrasil, a Brazilian phone-company association, said it received the order to shut off WhatsApp text message and Internet voice telephone service for smartphones throughout Latin America’s largest country Wednesday afternoon.
The association’s members put the blockade into effect at midnight (0200 GMT Thursday) as required by the court.
An executive of WhatsApp Jan Koum said they are disappointed in the short-sighted decision to cut off access to social app, a communication tool that so many Brazilians have come to depend on, and sad to see Brazil isolate itself from the rest of the world.
Brazilian phone companies have sought and failed to get the government to limit use of free voice-over-Internet (VOIP) services offered through WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook Inc .
The phone companies say the free WhatsApp calls undermine their own services.
