Judge Luiz de Moura Correia issued the suspension on Feb. 11 after the Facebook-owned messaging giant refused to assist law enforcement in an ongoing investigation into sexually explicit photos of children posted to the service, reported the Associated Press.
— ŇiShak♥Sale el sol (@nivea_mc) February 26, 2015
WhatsApp immediately appealed his order, but the judge maintained that the messaging system was legally required to turn over the information.
“The suspension measure of WhatsApp services does not meet the requirement of proportionality,” the judge wrote in his decision.
While the appeal process plays out the global messaging service is still operating in Brazil.
Since WhatsApp does not have an office in the country, the judge’s order was delivered to cell phone operators to enforce the block.
SindiTelebrasil, the association that represents those cell phone providers, said on its website that the suspension could cause “huge losses to millions of Brazilians” who use WhatsApp for personal and professional reasons.
Facebook bought WhatsApp last year for nearly $22 billion dollars.
British Prime Minister David Cameron threatened to block WhatsApp earlier this year to prevent terrorists from plotting attacks using the system, which encrypts messages.
