WhatsApp service restored in Brazil

The popular WhatsApp smartphone messaging

application came back to life Thursday in Brazil as a court threw out a two-day suspension that had

infuriated millions of users. Brazilians had woken up shocked and cranky because of the order issued Wednesday night by a judge.

That judge acted because the Facebook-owned

service failed to disclose information requested by

prosecutors as part of a criminal investigation.

The free service is widely used in Brazil where cell

phone tariffs for texting and calls are among the

highest in the world. The app is installed in nine in

10 smartphones in the country. It was to have remain suspended until midnight Friday. But in the end, the cut-off lasted around 12 hours as a court in Sao Paulo overturned the judge’s order.

“Because of constitutional principles, it is not

reasonable that millions of users be affected,” the

Sao Paolo court overseen by judge Xavier de Souza

wrote.

Authorities said they could not disclose details of

the probe that triggered the original ban because it is an ongoing case. Many saw the complaint against WhatsApp as bein driven by Brazil’s telecoms companies trying to preserve their high-margin cell phone rates from competition from the free app. But one television network, SPTV, said the judicial pressure on WhatsApp stemmed from an investigation into a gang that used it to commit

bank and ATM robberies. Brazilian service providers had received the judge’s order and had no choice but to comply, Eduardo Levy, chairman of Brazil’s association of cellphone service providers, told the G1 website Thursday morning while the suspension was still in effect.  At least one of the four major providers has appealed the order, arguing the suspension affected millions of people out of the blue. “This hurts consumers, and overnight it affected millions of users. There was not even time to issue a statement to customers. They are going to think the problem is with their service provider,” Levy said.