The São Paulo Court of Justice (TJ-SP) condemned the messaging application WhatsApp to indemnify lawyer João Vitor Rossi in R$ 5,000, for moral damages. The victim had his photo used by criminals seeking to apply blows through the app.
WhatsApp, even warned and condemned in court to suspend the profile, ignored the decision. The case took place in January of this year. Know more!
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More case details
As soon as it was notified of the court decision, WhatsApp filed an appeal in the second instance. It is worth mentioning that, according to the article in Folha de São Paulo, as the messaging application does not have legal representation in Brazilian lands, the Justice of São Paulo recognized Facebook's responsibility for the case. Both platforms are controlled by Meta. Still according to the matter, the practice follows the precedent of the STJ (Superior Court of Justice).
On the other hand, in the case file, Facebook's defense alleges that the messenger was unable to cancel the scammer's phone line. However, João Vitor Rossi requested that the platform suspend or remove the account linked to the phone, which can be done according to WhatsApp's terms of use.
The district of Santa Adélia (SP) had anticipated guardianship on January 20, with the imposition of a fine of BRL 200 for each day that the company left the scammer's phone free. The established limit was BRL 5,000, which WhatsApp will now have to pay.
Victim contacted WhatsApp support multiple times
The São Paulo lawyer went to court on January 7, shortly after the fraudster got in touch with his mother on the morning of the 5th. That same day, the criminal asked for a loan of R$ 1,450 from João Vitor Rossi's uncle. Fortunately, none of them fell into the coup.
Still on the afternoon of the 5th of the first month, the victim registered the case in a police report at the Santa Adélia police station. Then he sent an email to customer support. Whatsapp, with a takedown request that mentioned the bulletin. Even so, the account was not withdrawn.
Finally, some newspapers that reported the case verified that the account remains active, at least at the time of their respective publications.
