View all newsletters
Receive our newsletter - data, insights and analysis delivered to you
  1. Technology
December 17, 2015

Brazil bans WhatsApp for 48 hours

News: Alternative apps get boost in face of blackout.

By Charlotte Henry

WhatsApp is going to be shutdown for 48 hours in Brazil, on the orders of a Sao Paolo judge.

The messaging app is the single most used app in the South American nation, with 93% of the country’s internet popular using it, around 93m people.

Amost Genish, who runs the telecoms firm Vico there, has referred to the apps as "pure privacy", and a variety of telco’s in the country having been attacking the app to the government, claiming the voice service it offers is unregulated and illegal.

They believe that the app is utilising the numbers that belong to them, and has allowed millions of Brazilians to get rid of a mobile phone line.

The name of the individual or company who pushed for the injunction has not been named.

Brazil’s web users are in the top two or three on every social media platform, but the social web is hugely controversial there. The country’s politicians are proposing a variety of new laws that would censor the social web.

The moves come just a few years after the country has pushed for net neutrality, passed a "Bill of Rights" that limited online snooping on citizens, and has even tried to separate itself from the American internet.

Content from our partners
An evolving cybersecurity landscape calls for multi-layered defence strategies
Powering AI’s potential: turning promise into reality
Unlocking growth through hybrid cloud: 5 key takeaways

Private messaging app Telegram announced in the early hours of December 17th that it gained one million new Brazilian users in just one day.

Websites in our network
Select and enter your corporate email address Tech Monitor's research, insight and analysis examines the frontiers of digital transformation to help tech leaders navigate the future. Our Changelog newsletter delivers our best work to your inbox every week.
  • CIO
  • CTO
  • CISO
  • CSO
  • CFO
  • CDO
  • CEO
  • Architect Founder
  • MD
  • Director
  • Manager
  • Other
Visit our privacy policy for more information about our services, how Progressive Media Investments may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications. Our services are intended for corporate subscribers and you warrant that the email address submitted is your corporate email address.
THANK YOU