US judge halts Trump administration's order to remove WeChat from app stores
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Friday
January 27, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Games
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Podcast
    • Quiz
    • Tech
    • Trial By Trivia
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
FRIDAY, JANUARY 27, 2023
US judge halts Trump administration's order to remove WeChat from app stores

World+Biz

Reuters
20 September, 2020, 07:25 pm
Last modified: 20 September, 2020, 08:29 pm

Related News

  • Australia PM Morrison loses control of WeChat Chinese account as election looms
  • Australia considering new laws for Apple, Google, WeChat digital wallets
  • China rebukes 43 apps including Tencent's WeChat for breaking data transfer rules
  • Tencent's WeChat suspends new user registration for security compliance
  • Charlottesville removes Confederate statue at center of deadly 2017 protest

US judge halts Trump administration's order to remove WeChat from app stores

WeChat has had an average of 19 million daily active users in the United States

Reuters
20 September, 2020, 07:25 pm
Last modified: 20 September, 2020, 08:29 pm
US judge halts Trump administration's order to remove WeChat from app stores

A US judge early Sunday blocked the Trump administration from requiring Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google to remove Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat for downloads by late Sunday.

US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco said in an order that WeChat users who filed a lawsuit "have shown serious questions going to the merits of the First Amendment claim, the balance of hardships tips in the plaintiffs' favor."

Her 22-page order added the prohibitions "burden substantially more speech than is necessary to serve the government's significant interest in national security, especially given the lack of substitute channels for communication."

On Friday, the US Commerce Department had issued a order citing national security grounds to block the app from US app stores owned by Tencent Holding's and the Justice Department had urged Beeler not to block the order. Tencent and the Justice Department did not immediately comment.

Beeler's preliminary injunction also blocked the Commerce order that would have barred other transactions with WeChat in the United States that could have dramatically degraded the site's usability for current US users or potentially made it unusable. The US Commerce Department did not immediately comment.

WeChat has had an average of 19 million daily active users in the United States, analytics firms Apptopia said in early August. It is popular among Chinese students, Americans living in China and some Americans who have personal or business relationships in China.

The Justice Department said blocking the order would "frustrate and displace the president's determination of how best to address threats to national security."

Beeler wrote "certainly the government's overarching national-security interest is significant. But on this record — while the government has established that China's activities raise significant national security concerns — it has put in scant little evidence that its effective ban of WeChat for all US users addresses those concerns."

WeChat is an all-in-one mobile app that combines services similar to Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Venmo. The app is an essential part of daily life for many in China and boasts more than 1 billion users.

The Justice Department also argued that WeChat users could switch to other apps or platforms.

The WeChat Users Alliance that had sued praised the ruling "as an important and hard-fought victory" for "millions of WeChat users in the US"

Michael Bien, a lawyer for the users, said "the United States has never shut down a major platform for communications, not even during war times. There are serious First Amendment problems with the WeChat ban, which targets the Chinese American community."

He added the order "trampled on their First Amendment guaranteed freedoms to speak, to worship, to read and react to the press, and to organize and associate for numerous purposes."

Beeler also noted "there are obvious alternatives to a complete ban, such as barring WeChat from government devices.

She added "The regulation — which eliminates a channel of communication without any apparent substitutes — burdens substantially more speech than is necessary to further the government's significant interest."

Separately, the Commerce Department late Saturday said it was delaying enforcement of another order issued Friday that would also have banned US app stores from offering TikTok starting late Sunday.

The one-week delay came after US President Donald Trump on Saturday blessed a deal with TikTok owner ByteDance and US companies Oracle Corp and Walmart Inc to create a new company to handle TikTok's US operations

Top News

remove / WeChat

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Infograph: TBS
    State banks spend 80% of their forex for govt imports in H1
  • Manufacturers feel the pinch as consumers tighten belt
    Manufacturers feel the pinch as consumers tighten belt
  • Production remains halted in 8 Ctg power plants
    Production remains halted in 8 Ctg power plants

MOST VIEWED

  • FILE PHOTO-Russian President Vladimir Putin meets Head of the Republic of Bashkortostan Radiy Khabirov in Ufa, Russia January 13, 2023. Sputnik/Sergey Bobylev/Pool via REUTERS
    Putin requests clarifying methodology for oil price determination in taxation by 1 March
  • A still image from video, released by the Russian Defence Ministry, shows what it said to be Russia's Yars intercontinental ballistic missile launched during exercises held by the country's strategic nuclear forces at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome, Russia, in this image taken from handout footage released October 26, 2022. Russian Defence Ministry/Handout via REUTERS
    Hungary will veto EU sanctions on Russian on nuclear energy
  • Photo:Reuters
    India expects more clashes with Chinese troops in Himalayas
  • Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari. Photo: Collected.
    India aims high as hydrogen power alternatives get boost
  • U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks during a visit to the Office of Director of National Intelligence in McLean, Virginia, July 18, 2022. Saul Loeb/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
    Blinken to travel to Israel, West Bank, urge end to violence
  • Photo: Collected
    Toll from bombing in central Nigeria rises to 40: govt

Related News

  • Australia PM Morrison loses control of WeChat Chinese account as election looms
  • Australia considering new laws for Apple, Google, WeChat digital wallets
  • China rebukes 43 apps including Tencent's WeChat for breaking data transfer rules
  • Tencent's WeChat suspends new user registration for security compliance
  • Charlottesville removes Confederate statue at center of deadly 2017 protest

Features

Sketch:TBS

Why we need consumer education for consumer wellbeing

2h | Thoughts
Dr Ahsan H Mansur, Executive Director, Policy Research Institute. Illustration: TBS

Twin shocks call for stronger domestic policy response

3h | Thoughts
December-er shohor, taxi taken for airport and the Park Street bathed in lights. Photo: Jannatul Naym Pieal

Exploring Kolkata on foot, empowered by Google Maps

3h | Explorer
Island hopping in Bangladesh?

Island hopping in Bangladesh?

5h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

Kajol’s road paintings bring change in Gafargaon

Kajol’s road paintings bring change in Gafargaon

17h | TBS Stories
Carew & Company witnessed a remarkable growth

Carew & Company witnessed a remarkable growth

18h | TBS Stories
PCB recalls cricketers from BPL ahead of PSL

PCB recalls cricketers from BPL ahead of PSL

20h | TBS SPORTS
Why Misha Sawdagar became villain instead of a Hero?

Why Misha Sawdagar became villain instead of a Hero?

19h | TBS Entertainment

Most Read

1
Picture: Collected
Bangladesh

US Embassy condemns recent incidents of visa fraud

2
Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 
Bangladesh

Four top bankers arrested in DSA case filed by S Alam group 

3
Illustration: TBS
Banking

16 banks at risk of capital shortfall if top 3 borrowers default

4
Photo: Collected
Splash

Hansal Mehta responds as Twitter user calls him 'shameless' for making Faraaz

5
A frozen Beyond Burger plant-based patty. Photographer: AKIRA for Bloomberg Businessweek
Bloomberg Special

Fake meat was supposed to save the world. It became just another fad

6
Representational Image
Banking

Cash-strapped Islami, Al-Arafah and National turn to Sonali Bank for costly fund

EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]