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Court freezes Facebook’s funds in Brazil

A federal court in Brazil has reportedly frozen Facebook's funds in the country after its messaging product, WhatsApp, failed to turn over data sought in a drug case.
(Marcelo Sayao/EPA)
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A Brazilian news site says a federal court has ordered more than $6 million in Facebook funds frozen because its popular messaging service WhatsApp failed to turn over messages sought in a drug case.

The G1 news site says the order to freeze Facebook’s accounts was issued Thursday night. The court in the southern state of Parana said it had no immediate comment and Facebook said it would not comment.

Police have said that WhatsApp has repeatedly defied orders to turn over messages sent and received by suspected members of a drug trafficking gang.

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The frozen 19.5 million reals ($6.1 million) is equal to WhatsApp’s accumulated fines for refusing to comply.

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