WhatsApp was on the receiving end of a ban in Brazil, although subsequent reports said this was short lived after a judge said it was “not reasonable that millions of users be affected by the inertia of the company”.

The company received a 48-hour ban for failing to comply with a court order related to a legal process taking place in the country. Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook (which owns WhatsApp), said he was “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”.

BBC reported that a judge had echoed this view, meaning that services could be reinstated immediately. Services were unavailable for 12 hours prior to this.