Facebook Funds Frozen in Brazil Over WhatsApp Dispute

Brazil's government continued its war against

and its popular chatting app after the government froze $6 million of the company's cash in a local bank account. A judge in Brazil ordered Facebook to shut down its message app WhatApp back in May after the company refused to release data to the government as part of an ongoing drug trafficking investigation. WhatsApp was also banned in Brazil in December 2015 for a similar reason. Facebook refused to turn over data as part of a criminal trial and has not budged on its policy and that it does not store its users conversations that can be retrieved in the first place.

citing a report by Brazil's Globo G1 news service, reported that Brazil's government ordered $6 million of Facebook's cash in a local bank account to be frozen. Tech Crunch noted that the $6 million, or $19.5 million Brazilian reais, is equal to the total amount of fines that WhatsApp accumulated in the country for refusing to comply with the government's demand. WhatsApp does not have any assets in Brazil that can be frozen so the government is targeting its parent company. Shares of Facebook were trading lower by 0.31 percent at $113.84 early Tuesday morning.