The IT Nerd

There’s yet another plot twist in the attempt by President Trump to ban TikTok and WeChat. A Federal judge has temporarily blocked Trump from banning the latter:

In issuing the preliminary injunction, Judge Laurel Beeler wrote that the plaintiffs — a group of US-based WeChat users who stand to be affected by Trump’s ban — had shown “serious questions” in their claim that the executive order threatens the users’ First Amendment rights. 

“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,” Beeler wrote.

Nor does the order escape First Amendment scrutiny under an easier standard known as intermediate scrutiny, the judge said, because the ban on WeChat does not provide enough evidence that it is narrowly tailored to resolve the US government’s national security concerns with respect to the app. “And, as the plaintiffs point out,” Beeler wrote, “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.”

For many people of Chinese extraction, WeChat is the Internet. WeChat allows users to send messages, make mobile payments and use local services. But since it is a Chinese app, it must censor content the Chinese government deems illegal. In March, a report said WeChat was censoring key words about the coronavirus outbreak from as early as 1 January for example. Which is one of the reasons why Trump wants it banned. That an the fact that it’s a Chinese app and he’s anti-Chinese. We’ll see what Trump does in response to this, and what happens next. Watch this space.

This entry was posted on September 20, 2020 at 10:55 am and is filed under Commentary with tags WeChat. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.