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Deal
A US judge prevented the Commerce Department from requiring Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google to remove Tencent Holding’s WeChat for downloads before Sunday night.
The WeChat app sign is reflected on a mobile phone in this illustration image taken on September 19, 2020. REUTERS / Florence Lo / Illustration
WASHINGTON: A US judge blocked early Sunday morning from the Commerce Department from requiring Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc’s Google to remove Tencent Holding’s WeChat for download by Sunday night.
US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in California said in an order that WeChat users who filed a lawsuit “have shown serious doubts about the merits of the First Amendment claim, the balance of difficulties pointing in favor of the plaintiffs.”
Beeler’s preliminary injunction also blocked Commerce’s order that would have prohibited other transactions with WeChat in the United States that could have degraded the usability of the site for current US users. The U.S. Department of Commerce had no immediate comment.
(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
