Brazil is blacking out WhatsApp for 72 hours, thanks to an encryption battle.
Bad News for Brazil, A Brazilian judge ordered wireless phone carriers to block access to Facebook Inc's WhatsApp for 72 hours throughout Latin America's largest country starting Monday afternoon, the second such incident against the popular messaging application in five months. 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. Sources