Brazil’s WhatsApp ban has zero effect, just pushed users to other encryption solutions

Washington Post:

Even during the short time that Brazil’s ban on the Facebook-owned app was in effect, people still found other ways to access the type of encrypted messaging features that triggered the block in the first place.

Several rival apps that offer encrypted messaging services reported a surge in Brazilian sign-ups, which highlights how the growing ubiquity of private messaging apps makes it hard to stop people from using them.

Living proof. Banning or weakening encryption just does not work. All it does is push people to other communication channels.