--- title: Brazil Freezes Over $11 Million of Facebook Assets description: The funds were frozen over Facebook's failure to provide courts with WhatsApp user data canonical: https://time.com/4427920/brazil-facebook-whatsapp-assets-freeze/ author: Rishi Iyengar article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-28T08:16:35.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:50:19.143Z article:section: World og:title: Brazil Court Freezes $11 Million in Facebook Assets og:description: For failing to provide data on users of popular messaging service WhatsApp og:url: https://time.com/4427920/brazil-facebook-whatsapp-assets-freeze/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Brazil Court Freezes $11 Million in Facebook Assets twitter:description: For failing to provide data on users of popular messaging service WhatsApp twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Brazil Freezes $11 Million in Facebook Assets Over WhatsApp Data Dispute by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jul 28, 2016 8:16 AM CUT by [Rishi Iyengar](/author/rishi-iyengar/) ## Rishi Iyengar Jul 28, 2016 8:16 AM CUT A court in northwestern Brazil has [frozen](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-facebook-whatsapp-idUSKCN10801Q?utm%5Fcampaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm%5Fcontent=5799998604d30103522f54a3&utm%5Fmedium=trueAnthem&utm%5Fsource=twitter "undefined") more than $11 million worth of assets belonging to Facebook, a public prosecutor said Wednesday, following the social media giant’s failure to provide the court with data on users of its messaging service Whatsapp. The $11.7 million in funds was frozen after Facebook declined to provide data on Whatsapp users under criminal investigation, prosecutor Alexandre Jabur told Reuters. The funds relate to fines imposed for failing to comply with the Brazilian court order. The company’s defense, which stated that telephone and internet providers in the U.S. and Ireland are responsible for user data and would require international approval, was rejected by the court. Facebook has run afoul of Brazilian authorities on multiple instances this year, with Whatsapp being banned three times — including as recently as last week — since December. \[[_Reuters_](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-brazil-facebook-whatsapp-idUSKCN10801Q?utm%5Fcampaign=trueAnthem:+Trending+Content&utm%5Fcontent=5799998604d30103522f54a3&utm%5Fmedium=trueAnthem&utm%5Fsource=twitter "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4427920/brazil-facebook-whatsapp-assets-freeze/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4427920/brazil-facebook-whatsapp-assets-freeze/"},"headline":"Brazil Freezes $11 Million in Facebook Assets Over WhatsApp Data Dispute","datePublished":"2016-07-28T08:16:35.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:50:19.143Z","description":"Facebook declined to provide data on users of the popular messaging service","url":"https://time.com/4427920/brazil-facebook-whatsapp-assets-freeze/","keywords":["brazil","Tech","facebook","U.S.","Frozen","whatsapp","Ireland","assets"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Rishi Iyengar","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/rishi-iyengar/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/brazil/","name":"brazil"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4427920/brazil-facebook-whatsapp-assets-freeze/","name":"Brazil Freezes $11 Million in Facebook Assets Over WhatsApp Data Dispute"}}]}] ```