A court in Brazil has ordered the mobile phone operators on Wednesday to block the WhatsApp messaging application throughout the country for 48 hours.

A Brazilian court on Wednesday ordered telecommunications providers to block all access to the WhatsApp phone messaging application for 48 hours throughout Brazil, Latin America’s largest country, the Folha de S.Paulo newspaper said in an online report on Wednesday.

Sinditelbrasil, a Brazilian phone company association, said the blockade of the popular text message and Internet voice telephone service for smartphones would go into effect at midnight (0200 GMT Thursday).

Brazilian phone companies have sought and failed to get the government to limit the use of free voice-over-Internet (VOIP) services offered through WhatsApp, controlled by Facebook Inc. The phone companies say that the free WhatsApp calls undermine their own phone services, according to Reuters.

The name of the petitioner seeking the injunction before a criminal court in Sao Paulo state was kept secret by the judge.

History

This is not the first attempt when WhatsApp has been blocked in the country. In February, a judge in Teresina (PI) ordered to ban the messaging service. The reason behind the ban was WhatsApp’s refusal to provide information to the police about an investigation.

related items

Carolina

Carolina works for HackRead as a technical writer. She is a Brazilian traveller who has been to almost every country around the world. She has a keen interest in technology, gadgets and social media.

more from hack read