[naivedevops]

You should try to remember the political scenario at the time. The Snowden leaks had generated an immense discomfort in Brazilian government regarding the fact that US based companies could just wiretap Brazilian communications. WhatsApp didn't have a subsidiary at Brazil, and Facebook Brazil used to say they didn't respond for WhatsApp matters. Since Brazilian justice didn't manage to get WhatsApp to answer subpoenas even for extremely low-profile cases, they tried to force their hand on them. The blocks were clearly a demonstration of force, trying to get companies providing services to Brazilians to obey Brazilian law at least to some extent.