Yesterday, a Brazilian judge ruled that insanely popular messenger app WhatsApp would be suspended in Brazil for 48 hours, after the company twice failed to hand over information pertinent to a murder case, according to Bloomberg. The court was looking for the data of alleged drug dealers who belong to Primeiro Comando da Capital, one of Sao Paulo’s biggest gangs.
The 48-hour ban of WhatsApp quickly led to a bitter backlash, so much so, that the ruling was overturned just a day later. After all, Brazil is a place where 9 in 10 doctors use WhatsApp to talk to their patients, and one mayor even tried to run her whole town through the app. According to TechCrunch, 93% of Brazil’s internet-using population use WhatsApp, which is roughly 100 million people.
“This is a sad day for Brazil,” Mark Zuckerberg said on his FB page following the ban. “I am stunned that our efforts to protect people’s data would result in such an extreme decision by a single judge to punish every person in Brazil who uses WhatsApp.”
While it was in effect, the ban ended up affecting more than just those in Brazil. La Tercera reports that some Chileans were also having issue accessing the app. Spotify Brasil even came up with a 48 Horas playlist to help the time go by, but it didn’t stop people from going on Twitter to tell the world about their turbulent 48 hours in a Whatsapp-less world. Check out their emotional journey below:
1
Feeling like Tom Hanks in 'Cast Away'
https://twitter.com/OsAntissociais/status/677493747974828033
2
Reviving MSN Messenger
3
Getting to the bottom of some real questions
4
Going really old school
5
Sleeping through it
https://twitter.com/um_jovenlouco/status/677430968479805440