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A US JUDGE has blocked the government’s ban on WeChat downloads, hours before it was due to take effect yesterday in an ongoing technology and espionage battle between Washington and Beijing.
The Trump administration had ordered a ban on downloads of the messaging platform WeChat as well as hugely popular video-sharing app TikTok, both owned by Chinese companies. Both bans have now been suspended.
A California court ruling said it granted a “motion for a nationwide injunction against the implementation” of the government order on WeChat, with the judge citing concerns over free speech.
The order would have slowed WeChat down and made it unusable in the United States for video chats with family and friends, according to experts.
Owned by technology giant Tencent, WeChat has around 19 million active daily users in the United States.
When contacted by AFP, Tencent declined to comment on the ruling.
The ruling “is a short-term relief for the plaintiffs, who wanted to be sure that the app was not shut down tonight”, Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said.
If the government appeals and wins, the plaintiffs can appeal that decision. “The plaintiffs wanted to just buy time,” Tobias said. “It may be very soon that the president is no longer the president.”
As President Donald Trump seeks a breakthrough with voters to win a second term in the 3 November election, he has increasingly put national security and his aggressive stance toward China at the centre of his campaign.
He regularly accuses Democratic opponent Joe Biden of weakness toward Beijing.
The president said on Saturday he had approved a deal allowing Silicon Valley giant Oracle to become data partner for TikTok to avert a shutdown of that app.
The deal, announced by the companies, includes Walmart as a commercial partner and would create a new US company named TikTok Global.
National security threat?
TikTok — owned by China’s ByteDance — confirmed the Oracle agreement, which came as companies raced against yesterday’s deadline.
The US Department of Commerce on Saturday announced it was postponing the ban on TikTok downloads until 27 September, due to “recent positive developments”.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Friday accused China of using the two apps “to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and the economy of the US”.
WeChat is “mostly used by Chinese visiting or working here or by Chinese-Americans staying in touch with their relatives”, William Reinsch, of the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, said.
That includes several hundred thousand Chinese students in the United States, who use it for daily online conversations.
Trump has often claimed, without providing evidence, that TikTok and WeChat are collecting user data for Beijing.
In early August, he gave ByteDance until 20 September to hand over TikTok’s US operations to an American company.
TikTok’s brand of short phone videos has become a global phenomenon, especially among young people, with 100 million users in the United States alone.
China on Saturday condemned US “bullying”, saying it violated international trade norms and that there was no evidence of any security threat.
China also launched its long-expected “unreliable entities list”, seen as a weapon for Beijing to retaliate against the United States.
The Trump administration has used its own “entity list” to shut Chinese telecom giant Huawei out of the US market, in addition to the recent moves against TikTok and WeChat.
US officials have described Washington’s crackdown as essential to safeguard against potential Chinese espionage through the platforms.
According to the US Treasury, the TikTok deal still needs to be finalised by the involved companies and approved by a federal national security committee.
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Wechat is an app worth investigating because every last bit of data in that is going towards Chinas social credits systems. The CCP had no fuss in banning Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Google, Whatsapp et al. But the U.S does this on two apps and they throw tantrums.
@Paul Cunningham: just becasue they ban the use of social media doen’t meant the west should do it also in retaliation. That would be mad! Trump has given no evidnece to his claims of spying however and it is a bit niave to think it is for the protection of citizens he’s doing it. Every single platform out there is gathering information. We all willinly offer our data for free.
@Paul Cunningham: not going to have debate with you the reasons, if they follow the law, then they are allowed doing business in China, but do they want to?
@Paul Cunningham: Strange comment. Sounds like you’re advocating particular laws while at the same time implying that they shouldn’t be allowed.
@Paul Cunningham: agree both countries are hypocrites. WeChat links to social credit system is completely BS. Mostly it’s for communication and hook up.
@Paul Cunningham: This “social credit system” is another piece of western propaganda against China. WeChat has nothing to do with it because it simply isn’t what’s described by the media at all. Most Chinese people would laugh when seeing your comment.
Shutting down a means of communication is worrisome.
The American regime is little too authoritarian. If they can’t buy up the competition, they ban them. Until they can buy them.
@Dean: Election interference concerns, be damned!
I hope trim succeeds with this one
Ever noticed how all the judges who overturn these decisions are West Coast or NY? And they usually lose when appealed?
have your say