Still, the criminal judge left some 100 million Brazilian users without access to the messaging app for hours on Tuesday afternoon, showing the vast and unpredictable discretionary power of Brazil`s lower courts.
WhatsApp stood by its defense that messages sent over the app are not stored on its servers and cannot be turned over to the courts. Co-founder and Chief Executive Jan Koum even took to Facebook to vent his frustration with the recurring legal issues in Brazil.
"It`s shocking that less than two months after Brazilian people and lawmakers loudly rejected blocks of services like Whatsapp, history is repeating itself," he posted.
The office of Brazil`s attorney general reiterated its position that judges who suspend WhatsApp are incorrectly interpreting a 2014 law meant to update the legal framework for the internet.
Still, that guidance has not stopped judges frustrated with the modern limits of wiretaps in drug-trafficking investigations from going after the service and even briefly jailing a senior Facebook executive in March.
"As we`ve said in the past, we cannot share information we don`t have access to," said a WhatsApp spokesperson in a public statement.
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