Brazil court suspends WhatsApp messaging

A court in Sao Paulo state made the order because it said WhatsApp had repeatedly failed to co-operate in a criminal investigation. It is not clear if mobile companies will fully comply with the order.

Facebook owns the app. Its chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said he was "stunned" by the "extreme" ruling.

WhatsApp is reported to be the most used application in Brazil, with about 93 million users. It is used by 93% of the country's internet population and is especially popular among young people and the poor who take advantage of its free text message and internet telephone service.

It says Brazilians spend almost twice as much time on social media as Americans. Brazilians have taken to Twitter to express their anger at the suspension but also to joke about how dependent they have become on WhatsApp.

WhatsApp chief executive Jan Koum said he was "disappointed in the short-sighted decision to cut off access to WhatsApp, a communication tool that so many Brazilians have come to depend on, and sad to see Brazil isolate itself from the rest of the world".

Mr Zuckerberg was also highly critical of the ruling.

"This is a sad day for Brazil. Brazilians have always been among the most passionate in sharing their voice online," he wrote. "I am 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."