WhatsApp BAN: Popular smartphone messenger BLOCKED for 48 hours

Facebook-owned WhatsApp has been banned in Brazil for the next 48 hours

 

WHATSAPP has been banned for 48 hours – leaving 90 million users blocked from hugely popular cross-platform messaging service.

 

After months of speculation, WhatsApp has finally been banned.

The hugely popular messenger has come under threat from governments around the world over the last year – and was even rumoured to be blocked in the UK over security fears.

But now the Facebook-owned service has been banned in Brazil for 48-hours.

A judge in Sao Paulo has banned smartphone owners from using the app for the next two days – with immediate effect.

 

Brazilian mobile operators have been told to block Facebook's popular messaging app

 

Brazilian mobile operators have been told to block the hugely popular messaging app.

It appears the Country-wide WhatsApp ban has been ordered following a failure to comply with a July court order.

According to reports, WhatsApp received a court order to release information relating to the case but refused to cooperate.

The company was notified again on August 7th, and this time warned they would be fined for failure to comply.

 

The ban is believed to be a punishment on the firm for once again refusing to release the information. 

According to a document obtained by Gizmodo, the request was first made by investigators from the Criminal Factions Combat Group, which suggests the case is related to serious organised crime such as drugs trafficking or pedophilia. 

Speaking about the ban, Chief Executive of WhatsApp Jan Koum said: "We are disappointed in the short-sighted decision to cut off access to WhatsApp, 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."

 

The country's phone companies have tried in the past to get the app blocked – stating its new free call calling feature undermines their own services.

The 48-hour WhatsApp ban has already led to a thousands of complaints from users angry they can't access the app.

And it's also causing a major headache for the Facebook owned service with rival app Telegram reportedly gaining one million new users in a single day.

In fact, Telegram has seen such a surge in demand – it's struggling to keep up.

WhatsApp has over 900 million users across the globe with over 93 million Brazilians using the service.

1.500.000 and counting, SMS-Gateways overloading. Hang on, your codes are coming! We've got all hands on deck to accommodate the crazy load.

— Telegram Messenger (@telegram) December 17, 2015