Facebook CEO asks People To Safeguard Whatsapp By Protesting

The American social networking service provider calls people to protest in a favor of a legislation aiming to safeguard WhatsApp from suspension

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg called Brazilians to raise a demand that his American social networking organization’s messaging service WhatsApp should never be suspended again on 2^nd May 2016 overturned the second suspension of the application in 5 months.  In a post on his Facebook page, Mark urged Brazilians to gather outside Brazil’s legislature Congress in Brasilia, which is the Brazilian capital at 2100 GMT( 6pm) on 4^th April 2016 to rally for favoring a law that would ban the internet services suspension in the future.

On 2^nd April 2016 WhatsApp was blocked in Brazil after a judge in the Brazilian state Sergpie ordered the 5 main telecoms of the country to suspend access to the application for 3 days. The reason behind the order wasn’t publicized. The suspension of the text message as well as internet voice telephone facility of WhatsApp for smartphones was lifted after around a day when an appeals judge on 3^rd April 2016 gave a ruling favoring an injunction by the lawyers of the organization.

You and your friends can help make sure this never happens again, and I hope you get involved,” Zuckerberg posted on the platform. He mentioned  a uniform resource locator  to a request, calling efforts made to suspend communication “very scary in a democracy”.

The block highlights increasing global tensions between the privacy concerns of the tech companies and efforts of the national authorities to use social network to gain details on potential criminal activities. The same judge in the state gave an order to imprison a Brazil-based official of Facebook in March in a battle over demands to reach the encrypted messaging facility of company under a drug trafficking probe.

On 2^nd April 2016, WhatsApp stated it was “disappointed” at the decision by judge to block its facilities. It stated it missed the utmost to collaborate with tribunals in Brazil, but it didn’t possess the details the court requested it to provide. Spokesman of Facebook Matt Steinfeld stated officials of WhatsApp recently had a meeting with judicial officals and law enforcers to enhance communication and clarify that the organization can’t see encrypted messages of users and doesn’t store them following transmission.

In 5 months, WhatsApp has been blocked second time in the nation.  A São Paulo state judge ruled it close down for 2 days on 15^th December, after the networking organization was unable to act according to a ruling. Another state court lifted that ban shortly afterwards.

The suspension on Monday angered a large number of people in the state, where the messaging service is by far the most famous messaging application and installed on over 90% of Android products.

Regional Vice President Of Facebook Arrested in Brazil For Not Complying With Authorities Request

Facebook's regional vice president is arrested by Brazilian police for not providing information requested by a criminal investigatioan.

In the most recent clash between the Brazilian law enforcers and Facebook in Sao Paulo, police have detained the company’s regional vice president in Sao Paulo for failure to provide details that a criminal investigation had requested it to provide.

On March 1, 2016, the officials took Diego Dzodan into custody at Garulhos airport. Diego is currently being questioned regarding the accused non-compliance by the subsidiary of Facebook, WhatsApp, with an order given by the court.

The court claims that it has ordered WhatsApp for over 30 days to disclose messages related to an alleged drug-trafficking racket. After the company rejected three requests made by the federal police, it faced a daily fine of $12,574.49 (50,000 reais), followed by charging a penalty on a daily basis of $251,489.7(1 million reais). Ultimately, the court ordered to arrest the official.

The social network company called the action taken by the police as “extreme and disproportionate”. It states in 2014 the social network purchased WhatsApp, which has no employees based in Brazil. The service independently operates so Diego must not be held responsible. Moreover, it has noted that content which end users encrypt is not stored by the WhatsApp messaging facility.

It states that court is asking for details which the company does not have. This differs from the details found on the social network of Facebook, which are archived and can be shared if the law enforcement agencies of Brazil request it to do so and its lawyers approve their action.

This is not the one and only controversy for WhatsApp, which is Brazil’s most popular downloaded application in the past two years and is used by around 100 million people. In another case in December, court issues an injunction to shut down WhatsApp for 2 days for failing twice to act according to its orders. An outcry by users and interference by CEO Mark Zuckerberg who called the shutdown “a sad day for Brazil” overturned the injunction.

A lawyer, Adriano Mendes, who is digital law specialist but isn’t directly participating in the present case, said differences in knowledge and data security rules caused wars like one being fought between Facebook and the Brazilian government.

He expected that a higher court would shortly overturn the case as was done with a case in December 2015. WhatsApp’s spokesman said the company collaborated with investigators “to the full extent of our ability”.

The arrest was decried by Facebook’s spokesman, stating the company had always presented itself to answer the questions raised by the authorities of Brazil.