The Facebook vice president for Latin America has been set free from a Brazilian jail a day after the executive was detained over WhatsApp encryption.
A higher court on Wednesday ordered the release of Facebook VP Diego Dzodan while the legal process against the company continues.
Judge Ruy Pinheiro said the detention of Dzodan in São Paulo is an "unlawful coercion."
"It seems to me that the extreme measure of imprisonment was hurried," said the judge.
Sergipe federal police on Tuesday arrested Dzodan for not turning over information from a WhatsApp account linked to a drug-trafficking case. Facebook said its subsidiary does not store messages on its service so it has nothing to hand over to Brazilian authorities. However, the federal police detained Dzodan as ordered by a lower court due to "repeated non-compliance with court orders."
The police said the information contained in the WhatsApp account was required in producing evidence to be used in the investigation of an organized crime and drug trafficking case. Brazilian media also reported that drug traffickers used the popular messaging app in their transactions.
Apparently, Facebook isn't happy with the detention of its executive in the country. The company earlier released a statement condemning the actions taken by the Brazilian authorities.
"We are disappointed with the extreme and disproportionate measure of having a Facebook executive escorted to a police station in connection with a case involving WhatsApp," said a Facebook spokesperson. "Facebook has always been and will be available to address any questions Brazilian authorities may have."
WhatsApp, in the meantime, asserted that it has no technical means to help in the investigation.
"We are disappointed that law enforcement took this extreme step," it said in a statement. "WhatsApp cannot provide information we do not have."
The federal police said when Facebook refused to cooperate in the investigation, authorities imposed a fine of 50,000 reais, or around $12,500, every single day two months ago. Last month, the fine went up to 1 million reais, or about $250,000.
This is not the first arm-wrestle between Facebook and Brazilian authorities. Back in December, a court decided to suspend WhatsApp for 12 hours for failing to provide information during a separate criminal investigation.
