The whole drama between WhatsApp and the state of Brazil is not yet over. Yesterday, it was reported that the social network was given a countrywide block in Brazil due to a case in court and ordered by a judge from Rio.
Hours later after the order was issued to block WhatsApp on all carriers, this decision was overturned by the Supreme court as reported by The Guardian. The Supreme Court president, Ricardo Lewandowski apparently issued this ruling where he deemed the previous ruling by Judge Daniela Barbosa as “scarcely reasonable or proportional.” “We’re pleased that people can access WhatsApp again in Brazil,” a spokesperson from Whatsapp was quoted by the publication, “The Supreme Court swiftly rejected today’s block, finding that it was disproportionate and violated people’s fundamental freedom of expression.”
Before the decision to overturn the ruling to block WhatsApp in Brazil was made, Jan Koum, Whatsapp’s co-founder had already posted his sentiments about the matter on Facebook:
As also expected, people in the country started signing up for Telegram Messenger and the deluge of requests prompted the company to issue a statement about the verification codes that seem to have been delayed.
Dear people of Brazil! Your operators can't deliver as many SMS as we're sending out. Please be patient, your codes will come!
— Telegram Messenger (@telegram) July 19, 2016
These random rulings in Brazil that are issued to block access to WhatsApp go against the recent resolution that was passed by an UN council that reaffirmed the Internet as a basic human right. Although this was non binding resolution, you can definitely see its importance as we see reports of constant disruption of Internet access to specific sites.
