In an apparent attempt to force the company to turn user data over to authorities, a judge in Brazil has ordered mobile phone providers to block the popular messaging app, WhatsApp, for 72 hours, according to the LA Times.
The order, issues by Judge Marcel Montalvao, from the state of Sergipe, took effect on Monday afternoon. The judge did not provide a reason for issuing the order, but it is suspected it is in connection with an on-going drug-trafficking investigation in the country.
WhatsApp is owned by Facebook and is reportedly used by about half of the 200 million people living in Brazil. Earlier this year, the same judge ordered the arrest of Facebook’s vice president for Latin America, after the company refused to release customer data in the investigation.
This ruling marks the second time WhatsApp has been shut down in the country. In December of 2015, a 48-hour suspension of the service was ordered by a different court because the company would not comply with a request to release information. A higher court overturned the ban, which resulted in the service being shut down for approximately 13 hours in that case.
In as statement released by WhatsApp, the company said it was disappointed by the ruling and added they had cooperated with the courts to the extent of their abilities to do so. The statement added the decision punished more that 100 million Brazilians who use the service to communicate, run their businesses and more, and the court order is trying to force the company to release information it has said repeatedly it does not have.
Traditional text messaging in Brazil can be quite expensive for some, and many have come to rely on WhatsApp as a way to send messages, images and files.
The president of Brazil’s National Telecommunications Agency, Joao Rezende, told reporters the ban was “disproportionate,” because the ban was punishing the users of the service. Rezende added, “WhatsApp should comply with all legal orders as far as its technical capabilities allow. But obviously, the block is not the solution.”