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Image source
Reuters
A judge stopped an attempt by the US government to block the Chinese messaging app “WeChat” and pay money.
US Judge Laurel Piller said the ban raised serious doubts about the first amendment to the constitution that guarantees freedom of expression.
And the US Department of Commerce announced a WeChat ban that would prevent it from being downloaded from the US app network starting Sunday, leading to its effective closure.
The Trump administration has claimed it threatens national security.
It says that the app can transfer user data to the Chinese government.
Both WeChat and China have strongly denied the allegation. Tencent, the group that owns WeChat, previously described the US ban as “unfortunate.”
This ruling comes after TikTok, whose name is also mentioned in the order of the Ministry of Commerce, reached an agreement with the US companies “Oracle” and “Walmart”, hoping to allow them to continue working.
What happened in court?
The case came to court after a group of WeChat users in the United States challenged the executive order of US President Donald Trump, which sought to block the application in the country.
The US Department of Justice argued that blocking the Executive Order “would frustrate and stifle the president’s decision on the best way to deal with threats to national security.”
However, Piller, a judge in a San Francisco court, said that “while the public evidence regarding China’s threat to the national security of the United States (in terms of mobile phone technology and technology) is substantial, the specific evidence presented on WeChat is not significant. “
Why does the United States want to block applications?
In a statement, US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said the decision to block the app was made “to combat China’s malicious collection of personal data of US citizens.”
The ministry said that WeChat collected “a large amount of user data, including network activity, website data, browsing, and search history.”
A statement issued Friday by the Commerce Ministry said the ruling Chinese Communist Party “has demonstrated the means and motives to use these apps to threaten the national security, foreign policy and economy of the United States.
Tencent said that the messages on its app were kept confidential.
More than an app
James Clayton’s analysis
BBC North America Technology Reporter
WeChat is used by about 20 million people in the United States. It is used mainly by the Chinese and Southeast Asian diaspora.
It is difficult to describe how important it is in people’s lives. It is not just an application. For many people, WeChat is their mobile phone. It’s like Amazon, Facebook, WhatsApp, Tinder, and much more, all combined in one application.
A Malaysian expat told me that he would “cry” if the app were banned. He added that his family spent time teaching his elderly mother how to use “WeChat” and feared that she would not be able to communicate with her if the ban went into effect.
Interestingly, we haven’t heard much from WeChat’s company, Tencent. The reason behind this is that “Tencent” is one of the largest gaming companies in the world and has a huge market in the United States. If President Trump is going to target this section of the business, it really hurts.
What is WeChat?
WeChat was created in 2011. It is a multipurpose application that allows users to send messages, make mobile payments, and use local services. It describes itself as an “app for everything” in China and has more than 1 billion monthly users.
Like all Chinese social media platforms, WeChat should censor content that the government deems illegal.
In March, a report said that WeChat had been censoring keywords related to the coronavirus outbreak since January 1.
But “WeChat” insists that encryption means that others cannot “snoop” on your messages, and that content such as text, voice, and images is not stored on its servers and is removed once all intended recipients read it.
