Brazil court ruling orders WhatsApp to be unblocked nationwide

A judge from the state of Sergipe granted Tuesday (May 3) a decision to reconsider the dispute over WhatsApp messaging services and ruled that the service should be once again made available nationwide.

The move overturns the ruling issued by Appellate Judge Cezário Siqueira Neto, who had rejected the appeal filed by Facebook, the company which owns the application, in an attempt to unblock its use.

The power to resume the services offered by the application is now in the hands of the mobile phone operators, which should be notified of the change.

Out of operation

WhatsApp was taken down at 2 pm on Monday, when all mobile service providers were ordered to comply with a court ruling. Originally, the decision was to stand for 72 hours, i.e., up to 2 pm Thursday (5).

The order to block WhatsApp was based on the same reason as the warrant to arrest Facebook's vice-president in March this year: the company failed to provide authorities with messages related to a drug trafficking investigation.

Translated by Fabrício Ferreira