WhatsApp back in Brazil as judge lifts suspension - CNET

WhatsApp is back in Brazil.

A nationwide three-day blackout of the popular Facebook-owned messaging app was overtued on Tuesday by Judge Ricardo Múcio Santana de Abreu Lima, reported The New York Times. A lower court judge ordered the ban after the company failed to comply with a court order to tu over data tied to a criminal investigation.

"Thankfully, WhatsApp is now back online," wrote WhatsApp CEO Jan Koum in a Facebook post Tuesday. "We have no intention of compromising people's security and we hope those impacted by this decision join us in making their voices heard in support of an open and secure inteet. The last thing we want is to see WhatsApp blocked again."

This may not signal a total victory for WhatsApp. The decision to lift the ban was based on process rather than the merits of the original case, a court spokesman told the Times.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also heralded the app's retu in a Facebook post Tuesday. He encouraged Brazilians to attend an event to introduce laws that prevent order blocking Inteet services like WhatsApp.

WhatsApp, which Facebook bought in 2014 for $19 billion, has clashed with authorities before in Brazil. In December, a judge ordered the shutdown of the app for the country for two days after not complying with a criminal investigation, but the ruling was overtued the next day. In March, a Facebook executive was jailed for not tuing over information from a WhatsApp account linked to a drug trafficking investigation. He was released the next day.

WhatsApp did not immediately respond to a request for additional comment.