I agree with you. And I think all this should be framed "is the law right? should we change it?"; instead is always presented as "an authoritarian, out of his league, small town judge who is arrogant and clueless about tech".
He is just following the law, so fight the law, no diminish the judge.
Remembering that a "single judge" following the law with authonomy launched the biggest attack on corruption of brazilian history, and the fact that he is not a supreme court justice acted in favor of an independent investigation (search "sergio moro" and "lava-jato" police investiagiont).
No, judges need to notice when a law creates a contradiction or a stupid scenario and not make such rulings. Judges are supposed to have "wisdom". Pointing at a broken law, then breaking communications for everyone hardly seems wise. Unless he's secretly hoping this will force a big change in law and government.
Contradictions are one thing, but the stupidity of a law is subjective, and the judiciary should not be empowered to rule contrary to the law based on their opinion of it.
Which is not to say they shouldn't point out that it's ridiculous when they make their ruling, and suggest that the legislature fixes it quickly.
This is the "too big to fail" that the GP described. Do you really want a world where a company can evade the law just by getting enough people to depend on it? An important idea of rule of law is that it applies equally to everyone, no matter how important they are. Once you make exceptions for powerful people or powerful companies, it can become corrupt and abused. No small local messaging app will have this protection that people demand should be given to Whatsapp. Why should the dominant player in a market be exempt from complying with laws that their competitors must follow?
He is just following the law, so fight the law, no diminish the judge.
Remembering that a "single judge" following the law with authonomy launched the biggest attack on corruption of brazilian history, and the fact that he is not a supreme court justice acted in favor of an independent investigation (search "sergio moro" and "lava-jato" police investiagiont).