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WhatsApp is what’s out in Brazil

Women check their cell phones as they walk on the sidewalk in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Monday, May 2, 2016. A Brazilian judge investigating a drug ring has ordered cell phone operators to block the messaging app WhatsApp for 72 hours. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)
Women check their cell phones as they walk on the sidewalk in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Monday, May 2, 2016. A Brazilian judge investigating a drug ring has ordered cell phone operators to block the messaging app WhatsApp for 72 hours. (AP Photo/Andre Penner) Women check their cell phones as they walk on the sidewalk in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Monday, May 2, 2016. A Brazilian judge investigating a drug ring has ordered cell phone operators to block the messaging app WhatsApp for 72 hours. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

By Associated Press 1 min read

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – The popular WhatsApp messaging service is not working in Brazil, apparently as a result of an ongoing judicial battle.

Local news reports say a judge in the remote northeastern state of Sergipe ordered the service suspended nationwide for 72 hours, starting Monday afternoon.

The G1 internet portal of the Globo television network says the suspension by Judge Marcel Maia Montalvao is a new chapter in a tussle between Brazilian law enforcement and WhatsApp’s parent company, Facebook.

In March, Facebook’s most senior representative in Latin America was detained in Sao Paulo for repeatedly failing to cooperate with an investigation into drug trafficking and organized crime. Diego Dzodan was held for one night for failing to give law enforcement information about WhatsApp users targeted in the probe.