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A U.S. judge today blocked the Commerce Department’s WeChat download ban a few hours before it went into effect.
Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco said she had approved “the plaintiff’s proposal to enact a nationwide injunction against the government’s enforcement” of the ban.
TikTok and WeChat apps on mobile phones showcased in Beijing in August. AP.
Judge Beeler’s order also blocks the Commerce Department’s request to ban transactions other than WeChat in the US that could harm existing users using the app.
The US Department of Commerce had no comment. The United States government banned Tencent’s WeChat and Bytedance’s Tiktok on June 18 for national security reasons. The bans will go into effect on September 20. After that, smartphone users in the US will not be able to download or update these two apps. Users who already have WeChat on wearable devices may have difficulty using them such as app slowdowns, errors because US internet services will not be available from September 20.
WeChat has an average of 19 million daily active users in the US, according to data from analytics firm Apptopia in early August. It is quite popular with Chinese students, Americans living in China, and some Americans who have personal or business relationships with China.
The US Department of Justice said blocking the WeChat ban “would disappoint and undermine the president’s determination to find the best way to deal with threats to national security.”
However, Judge Beeler argued that “while the evidence of a national security threat associated with China is substantial, the specific evidence from WeChat is very modest.”
The WeChat User Coalition hailed Judge Beeler’s ruling “as an important and difficult victory” for “millions of WeChat users across the United States.”
Vu hoang (According to the Reuters)
