businessinsider : WhatsApp gets blocked and unblocked in Brazil before Olympics

WhatsApp gets blocked and unblocked in Brazil before Olympics

WhatsApp, one of the world's most popular messaging apps, has entered another round of fighting with Brazil, home to more than 100 million of the app's roughly 1 billion users.On Tuesday, a judge in Rio de Janeiro state ordered the country's main service providers to block access to the messaging app or face fines of roughly $15,000 a day.The judge issued the order because of what the Spanish newspaper El País characterized as her frustration with the app's lack of compliance with court orders to turn over information related to ongoing cases.

Brazil has blocked WhatsApp for the third time in a year

We're going through a bit of déjà vu here: a judge in Brazil has ordered a nationwide block on WhatsApp after the company refused to comply with a court order to reveal user information in a crime investigation.The most recent block happened in May, causing 100 million users to have to use alternative services (Telegram being the popular choice).A previous one happened in December 2015.

WhatsApp briefly blocked yet again in Brazil

A woman uses whatsapp as the decision of the Court of Rio to block instant messaging application was suspended on July 19, 2016 in Sao Paulo, Brazil.(Getty Images)The hugely popular WhatsApp smartphone messaging service was briefly blocked by a Brazilian court Tuesday for the third time in less than a year after failing to surrender user data to police.The latest drama ended after the Supreme Court president, Ricardo Lewandowski, accepted an appeal against a lower court order that shut down the service nearly four hours earlier.