bloomberg : Judge Orders WhatsApp Restored in Brazil as Olympics Near

Judge Orders WhatsApp Restored in Brazil as Olympics Near

Brazil's chief justice ordered service restored for Facebook Inc.'s WhatsApp, saying the government's decision to block the messaging app violated freedom of speech and communication in the country.WhatsApp had been blocked earlier Tuesday for the third time in seven months in Brazil, a country where the messaging service is ubiquitous.The suspension added to the long list of difficulties Brazil is facing 17 days before the start of the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

WhatsApp service restored in Brazil

The WhatsApp messaging app resumed in Brazil after the Supreme Court overturned a suspension of the service that lasted less than a day and affected more than 100 million users."The Supreme Court has reversed the order," a WhatsApp spokesperson told VentureBeat.Today's blocking of WhatsApp had been ordered by Judge Daniela Barbosa Assunção de Souza in the state of Rio de Janeiro for failing to help a criminal investigation.

Brazil judge briefly blocks WhatsApp over criminal case

SAO PAULO A Brazilian judge briefly blocked Facebook Inc's WhatsApp messaging service on Tuesday for failing to cooperate in a criminal investigation, before the nation's top court overturned the measure in the third such incident since December.Federal Supreme Court President Ricardo Lewandowski said in a decision that it seemed "scarcely reasonable or proportional" for a judge in Rio de Janeiro state to have ordered the indefinite suspension of the messaging app until it revealed encrypted messages pertaining to a confidential case.Still, the criminal judge left some 100 million Brazilian users without access to the messaging app for hours on Tuesday afternoon, showing the vast and unpredictable discretionary power of Brazil's lower courts.

WhatsApp is back after being blocked yet again in Brazil

Once again, popular messaging service WhatsApp is being blocked in Brazil as the result of a judicial order.(Update: And now, after a reversal, it's back up; see updates below.)It's the third time in the past year that the service has been ordered offline by a judge for failing to turn over user information.