[burntwater]

To add to those who have referenced the cost to the government: consider who else uses WhatsApp besides just activists - it's likely many government employees use WhatsApp as well.

Anecdotal tidbit: I worked at the Rio 2016 Olympics. My team consisted of Brazilians, Americans, Britons, and Koreans. WhatsApp was how we communicated[1], I'm sure the same was true for most of the other thousands of people working setup for the Olympics.

When a power-hungry judge forced WhatsApp to be blocked a couple weeks before the opening ceremonies, it was rather problematic for the Olympics staff. My first thought was "uhhh. This isn't going to last for long," and it didn't.

I can't say for sure that it's because the IOC president called up the Brazilian president, and the Brazilian president yelled at the judge, but I like to think that's what happened.

[1] Integrated language translation would be a FANTASTIC feature to add.