Brazilian Courts Block R$ 38 Million of Facebook for Not Disclosing Information

07/28/2016 - 10h30

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FROM SÃO PAULO

The Federal Courts of the state of Amazonas blocked R$ 38 million (US$ 11.5 million) of Facebook's accounts in Brazil as the company did not comply with a previous order - the courts had ordered the company to disclose information on its users and messages exchanged on WhatsApp that would be used in investigations. However, the order was not followed by the company.

The Public Prosecutor's Office of the state of Amazonas, which made the request, says the funds have already been blocked and correspond to the 38 days during which the decision was not complied with. On Wednesday, July 27, Facebook disclosed that it made a global profit of US$ 2 billion in the second quarter of 2016.

The investigation that led to the request to break the confidentiality is in camera proceeding. The case seems to be different in some aspects from other cases that recently led to the block of WhatsApp in Brazil - the most recent occurred last week.

In the case of Amazonas, data of both WhatsApp and Facebook were requested. The explanation given is also different: information of the Public Prosecutor's Office show that instead of saying that it does not store the information, as WhatsApp had repeated in previous cases, the company now says that the content related to its users is stored in servers in the U.S. and Ireland.

Contacted by telephone and email, the company's press office in Brazil has not answered the questions yet.

Translated by THOMAS MUELLO

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