The Trump administration recently confirmed that the Tencent-backed WeChat and ByteDance’s TikTok will be banned in the United States from 20th September. It also blocked all the transactions to WeChat from the same day while broader restrictions for TikTok were related till November because of the on-going negotiations.
Now, in a major relief, a judge has blocked the ban on WeChat just as the restrictions were about to go into effect. U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler 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.”
The ruling also temporarily halts the ban on transactions for the application in the United States. This is a major setup for President Donald Trump who has labeled the service as a national security threat, just as election date nears.
In her order, Judge Laurel Beeler said that she had chosen to grant the motion because of some serious questions raised by the plaintiffs about the harm of First Amendment rights. The plaintiffs had also argued that the ban would shut down the primary means of communication for the Chinese community.
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The lawsuit was filed by the U.S. WeChat Users Alliance, which says that it has no connection with Tencent or its affiliates. The group argues that the ban violates several constitutional provisions, including the right to free speech, due process, and equal protection against arbitrary discrimination.
Meanwhile, Donald Trump has approved the deal of TikTok with Oracle and Walmart where both the American companies will take up a minority stake in TikTok Global while the Chinese group will continue to hold the majority stake.
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