“Facebook CEO urges Brazilians to decry WhatsApp block”, 3 May 2016

Facebook...Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg called on Brazilians to demand his company's WhatsApp messaging service never be blocked again after an appeals court on...[3 May]...overturned the application's second suspension...[He]...urged Brazilians...to rally in favor of legislation that would prevent Internet services from being blocked...The suspension of WhatsApp's text message and Internet voice telephone service for smartphones was lifted after about 24 hours when an appeals judge on...ruled in favor of an injunction by the company's lawyers...100 million users were affected...Zuckerberg...[called]...efforts to block communication "very scary in a democracy." The suspension highlighted growing international tensions between technology companies' privacy concerns and national authorities' efforts to use social media to gain information on possible criminal activities...[A]...Facebook spokesman...said WhatsApp executives were meeting this week with law enforcement and judicial officials in Brazil to improve communication and clarify that the company cannot see users' encrypted messages and does not store them...[The]…suspension angered many in Brazil, where the service is used by individuals, companies and federal and local governments...Cost-conscious Brazilians are avid users of free messaging apps, and WhatsApp is by far the most popular...The suspension came as a congressional commission on cyber crime in Brazil debated changes to the 2014 legislation governing the use of the Internet...[The]...proposed reform would help avoid shutdowns of this kind by allowing the blocking of specific individuals or IP addresses suspected of illicit activity, rather than the access of all users...