President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro leads a motorcade in the United States, Sao Paulo, Brazil, April 15, 2022. REUTERS / Carla Carniel
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BRAZIL, April 15 (Reuters) – Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro criticized the WhatsApp news platform on Friday for not releasing a new feature called Communities in Brazil until this year’s presidential election is over.
The messaging service, owned by Meta Platforms (FB.O), said on Thursday that it was testing the new tool for organizing groups into larger structures that could be used by jobs or schools.
The feature will bring together groups that are currently limited to 256 users.
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Brazilian media reported that the function will not be available in Brazil until the elections end in October.
“What WhatsApp is doing around the world is not a problem, but to make an exception in Brazil is unacceptable,” Bolsonaro said during a motor rally in Sao Paulo. Read more
WhatsApp is one of the messaging platforms that Bolsonaro supporters rely on to communicate.
Meta declined to comment.
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Report by Anthony Baudelaire; Edited by Sandra Mahler
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