Brazil Police Detain Facebook Executive Over Court Orders Privacy concerns have frequently put Facebook and other Internet giants at odds with Brazilian law enforcement seeking evidence in criminal cases.
By Reuters
This story originally appeared on Reuters
Federal police in Brazil apprehended the vice president of Facebook Inc. for Latin America on Tuesday after the company failed to cooperate with judicial orders in an investigation of drug trafficking in Sergipe state.
Court officials in Sergipe confirmed the detention of Diego Dzodan and police said he remained in custody for questioning in Sao Paulo state. A Facebook representative declined to comment immediately on the case.
Privacy concerns have frequently put Facebook and other Internet giants at odds with Brazilian law enforcement seeking evidence in criminal cases, although the confrontations rarely rise to the prominence of Apple Inc.'s current standoff with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.
In December, a judge suspended Facebook's popular WhatsApp phone-messaging service in Brazil for about 12 hours after it failed to comply with two court orders to share information in a criminal case.
Brazilian courts have not shied away from targeting senior tech officials.
In 2012, an elections court in Mato Grosso do Sul ordered the detention of Google's most senior executive in Brazil after the company failed to take down YouTube videos attacking a local mayoral candidate.
(Reporting by Brad Haynes; Additional reporting by Cesar Bianconi and Maria Pia Palermo; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Bill Trott)
