(Bloomberg) – A group of WeChat users have asked a federal judge to block the Trump administration from imposing a ban on what they say appears to be all use of the Chinese messaging app in the US over concerns about national safely.
In a lawsuit filed Friday in federal court in San Francisco, Chinese-American lawyers who formed the U.S. WeChat Users Alliance say the planned restriction of President Donald Trump on the app is unconstitutional. Its August 6 mandate bans Americans from mid-September on transactions with WeChat and TikTok, another Chinese social media platform.
The “vaguely worded” executive order does not define which transactions will be banned and will cause individuals and companies to lose or they will dispute the president’s order if they change the way they communicate or do not fundamentally change their companies, according to the lawyers. They linked the president’s order to his remarks that have been critical of China in recent months, including blaming the coronavirus pandemic.
“Neither the Executive Order itself nor the White House has provided concrete evidence to support the contingent that using WeChat in the United States compromises national security,” the group said in the complaint. “However, the Executive Order was issued in the middle of the 2020 election cycle, at a time when President Trump has made a number of anti-Chinese statements that have contributed to and offended racial animosity against people of Chinese descent.”
They claim that Trump’s mandate infringes on the freedom of speech rights of WeChat users, and their rights to litigation, because it does not mention the specific behavior and conduct that is prohibited.
Representatives of the US Department of Justice did not immediately respond to an email sent after regular business hours seeking comment on the lawsuit.
WeChat, owned by Shenzhen, a China-based Tencent Holdings Ltd., is used by millions of Americans and Native Americans to communicate with people whose first language is Chinese, according to the alliance. Trump’s order would effectively ban the use of WeChat in the US, including anyone exchanging messages with friends, family or businesses in China, the group said.
Trump’s mandate reflects growing concerns by U.S. authorities that Chinese companies pose a serious security risk, a claim that has escalated tensions between the two countries and denials have emerged from Beijing. Trump also ordered on August 14 the Chinese owner of TikTok, ByteDance Ltd., to sell its US assets, with potential buyers Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp. who show interest.
The president has broad powers under a 1977 law that allows him to declare a national state of emergency in response to an “unusual and extraordinary threat,” including blocking and seizing transactions.
Read more: Why Tencent and WeChat are such a big deal in China
U.S. companies with operations in China have expressed concern about the WeChat ban, as the app is an integral tool for businesses in the country. Chinese consumers use it for all kinds of transactions, from buying coffee to airline tickets.
The Trump administration seeks to include private U.S. companies including Apple Inc. that they can still do business with the WeChat messaging app in China, according to several people familiar with the matter,
The case is US WeChat Users Alliance v. Trump, 20-cv-05910, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).
(Updates with details on allegations in third paragraph.)
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