A US federal judge has temporarily blocked the executive order issued by President Donald Trump that bans downloading of the WeChat mobile app.
US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler issued a preliminary injunction that blocked President Donald Trump's executive order banning WeChat downloads in the US.
WeChat ban
The executive orders issued by President Trump in early August state that the video sharing app TikTok and the group chat app WeChat will be prohibited from operating in the US if their Chinese-owned parent companies fail to sell them in 45 days.
The order issued for Tencent-owned WeChat, which allows its users to transfer funds to each other, states that financial transactions with Tencent will be banned.
The order prohibits "any transaction that is related to WeChat by any person, or with respect to any property, subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, with Tencent Holdings Ltd. (a.k.a. Téngxùn Kònggǔ Yǒuxiàn Gōngsī), Shenzhen, China, or any subsidiary of that entity, as identified by the Secretary of Commerce (Secretary) under section 1(c) of this order."
Last Friday, the US Department of Commerce announced that it will ban TikTok and WeChat from app stores beginning Sunday unless a last-minute deal is approved.
According to the commerce department, it will ban people in the US from downloading the messaging app WeChat and video sharing app TikTok through any app store on any platform.
Department of Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross said: "At the president’s direction, we have taken significant action to combat China’s malicious collection of American citizens’ personal data."
While the department admits that the levels of threat posed by WeChat and TikTok are different, it said that both firms collected "vast swathes of data from users, including network activity, location data, and browsing and search histories".
Under the order, people in the US will not be able to use WeChat to transfer funds or process payments to or from people in the country starting Sunday. Meanwhile, TikTok users will still be able to access the app normally but they will not be able to download new updates.
The commerce department stated: “The President has provided until November 12 for the national security concerns posed by TikTok to be resolved.” Beyond this date, some technical transactions will be banned on the app which would affect functionality.
Ross added that "the basic TikTok will stay intact until November 12” but WeChat “for all practical purposes… will be shut down in the US, but only in the US, as of midnight Monday".
Preliminary injunction
According to Judge Beeler, the plaintiffs, who are a group of US-based WeChat users, had shown "serious questions" in their claim that the executive order is a threat to their First Amendment rights.
In the preliminary injunction, Beeler wrote: "The plaintiffs' evidence reflects that WeChat is effectively the only means of communication for many in the community, not only because China bans other apps, but also because Chinese speakers with limited English proficiency have no options other than WeChat."
The judge also explained that the executive order may also be subjected to First Amendment scrutiny under an easier standard known as intermediate scrutiny because it does not provide enough evidence that it is the narrowed down solution to the national security concerns of the US government in relation to the app.
Beeler added: "And, as the plaintiffs point out, there are obvious alternatives to a complete ban, such as barring WeChat from government devices, as Australia has done, or taking other steps to address data security."
