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ARTICLE · 24 JULY 2016

What's wrong with Whatsapp?

Corrs Chambers Westgarth
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Communicating through online services other than email and SMS is on the rise, and for many people, it is now the norm.

AustraliaMedia, Telecoms, IT, Entertainment
Matthew Critchley
Matthew Critchley
Ben Winford
Ben Winford
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On 20 July 2016, a court in Brazil temporarily blocked access to WhatsApp on the basis that its owner, Facebook, had shown "total disrespect for Brazilian laws". Hours later, the decision was overturned by Brazil's Supreme Court for being "scarcely reasonable or proportional".

Communicating through online services other than email and SMS is on the rise, and for many people, it is now the norm. WhatsApp, owned by Facebook Inc, is a service used by 1 billion people worldwide, with 2.4 million users in Australia. Facebook itself has 1.65 billion users, with more than 900 million users on its own Messenger service.

This month's ban on WhatsApp marks the third time such a ban has occurred in Brazil – the longest being in place for 72 hours. This most recent ban arose from Facebook's refusal to provide chat logs from WhatsApp related to a criminal investigation. Facebook declined to provide the requested chat logs because it claimed not to have access to WhatsApp

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