Earlier this week, a US appeals court rejected a request Justice Department that will allow the government to immediately ban the WeChat app from Apple and Google’s respective app stores for download in the US.
According to a Reuters report, the three judge panel for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals stated in a brief order, the government had not demonstrated how it would “suffer an imminent, irreparable injury during the pendency of this appeal, which is being expedited.” Similarly, a US judge rejected the Justice Department’s request to reverse her decision on preventing the WeChat app ban that was sought by the Commerce Department in response to a lawsuit from WeChat users, earlier this month.
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WeChat users have stated that the ruling will prevent an “unprecedented shutdown of a major platform for communications relied on by millions of people in the United States.” Previously, the Commerce Department had ordered the ban to take effect by 20th September 2020, barring other US transactions with the popular Chinese messaging and multipurpose application. This would’ve effectively made the app unusable.
At the moment, Tencent and the Commerce Department have yet to comment on the matter, while the appeals court date has been placed for January 2021. The Justice Department has argued that the Chinese app is a threat to US national security, which is similar to the allegations on the tech giant, Huawei.
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