Brazil is in the midst of a Whatsapp blackout after a court ruled to block access to the popular app starting at midnight Thursday, local time.
A judge in the city of Sao Paulo issued a service block, telling telecommunications companies to stop using the country's most popular messaging app, but did not reveal the name of the company or the person responsible for issuing the injunction.
Brazilian telecommunications companies have previously tried to stop the development of WhatsApp in the country, claiming that the app's free calling feature is uncontrolled and illegal and accusing it of being responsible for reducing mobile contracts.
Earlier this year, the president of Brazilian telecom company Vivo called Whatsapp pure piracy, explaining that the service uses phone numbers belonging to mobile phone providers like Vivo.
Brazil , passing a “Bill of Rights” law that limited electronic surveillance of citizens and embarked on an ambitious plan to separate itself from the American Internet in the wake of the NSA spying scandal.
But Brazil’s now conservative-dominated Congress is set to roll back that law and replace it with a series of laws that would require Brazilian citizens to provide their tax ID, address, and phone number to access websites and apps. The proposed laws would give the Brazilian government control over social media, technically allowing politicians to order content to be deleted from Facebook, Twitter, and elsewhere without knowing who posted it.
The 48-hour ban on WhatsApp has already sparked a storm of protests and memes on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. It turned out that the move also benefited the app's opponents, as Telegram gained 1 million new Brazilian users in just one day.
