Once again, Brazilian judge orders WhatsApp block
UPDATE: Reuters reports that Brazil’s Supreme Court has suspended the ruling ordering the block. The suspension lasted for a few hours, affecting millions of users.
International Media Support echoes concerns voiced by the Global Network Initiative over yet another order by a Brazilian judge to block the WhatsApp messaging service across the entire country.
Restrictions like the one in Brazil are part of a global tendency of network shutdowns and restrictions that pose a real threat to human rights everywhere. IMS is fighting internet shutdowns and restrictions together with Access Now and over 70 organisations worldwide through the campaign #KeepItOn.
The service is suspended after a judge said the company had failed to hand over information requested in a criminal investigation.
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The blocking of the messaging service is a disproportionate response to a dispute over a court order, says the Global Network Initiative, of which IMS is a member.
“This latest order is beyond reason as it is completely disproportionate for a judge to follow in the footsteps of other blocks that hurt millions of law-abiding people,” said Mark Stephens, CBE, Independent Chair of the GNI Board. “These blocks were decried by judicial and policy experts across the country and were swiftly overturned,” he said.
In March, a Facebook executive was detained overnight for failing to comply with an attempt to block WhatsApp.
A WhatsApp spokesperson had said: “As we’ve said in the past we cannot share information we don’t have access to.
“Indiscriminate steps like these threaten people’s ability to communicate, to run their businesses, and to live their lives.”
This judicial overreach denies some 100 million WhatsApp users access to a secure way to contact family members and friends, find employment, run their small businesses and access vital information, says GNI in their statement.
For more on this issue, see the GNI and Telecommunications Industry Dialogue Joint Statement on Network and Service Shutdowns.
