epa05287194 (FILE) A file picture dated 07 April 2016 shows the logo of the messaging application WhatsApp on a smartphone in Taipei, Taiwan. For the second time in six months, a Brazilian judge on 02 May 2016 ordered a temporary shutdown of the Facebook-owned WhatsApp messaging service. The ruling requires Brazilian mobile providers to block the service for 72 hours beginning at 1700 GMT on 02 May 2016. The order was issued in response to a motion from the Federal Police, who are seeking to force Facebook to comply with previous court orders requiring the company to reveal the content of texts sent via WhatsApp by the defendants in a drug trafficking case. EPA/RITCHIE B. TONGO
SAO PAULO: A Brazilian judge ordered wireless phone carriers to block access to Facebook Inc's WhatsApp for 72 hours throughout Latin America's largest country on May 2, the second such move against the popular messaging application in five months.
The decision by the judge in the northeastern state of Sergipe applies to the five main wireless operators in Brazil and affects WhatsApp's more than 100 million users in the country. The reason for the order is not known due to legal secrecy in an ongoing case in the Sergipe state court.
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