Top Class Actions’s website and social media posts use affiliate links. If you make a purchase using such links, we may receive a commission, but it will not result in any additional charges to you. Please review our Affiliate Link Disclosure for more information.
The federal judge hearing the WeChat ban case says she is unlikely to lift her September preliminary injunction stopping the Trump administration from shutting down the app as the case progresses through the legal process.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler said despite new evidence from the U.S. Department of Justice, millions of Americans’ free speech rights outweighed the department’s concerns over national security concerns, Business Insider reported.
Judge Beeler did not issue a ruling on the WeChat ban injunction during the Thursday hearing, according to The Verge. But she said in her September order that app users had presented “serious questions” about whether a ban would violate their First Amendment rights.
A Justice Department attorney urged Judge Beeler to lift the injunction, according to Law360, saying the government was seeking to limit the app’s functionality in order to encourage users to use platforms not under the control of the Chinese government.
“There is no dispute, Your Honor, that China is the most persistent perpetrator of cyber espionage against the United States,” the attorney said.
President Donald Trump claims the WeChat ban is needed to neutralize alleged threats posed by the Chinese government, which is able to access user data harvested by Tencent Holdings Ltd., WeChat’s parent company.
However, WeChat users sued the Trump administration in August in an attempt to strike down the ban.
Through the app, users are able to communicate with others, read news, order takeout and perform other tasks.
Because of the diversity of interactions that can take place on the app, WeChat users says there’s no alternative app that can do everything it does, according to The Verge.
The WeChat Users Alliance says the app has even been used by domestic police departments during the coronavirus pandemic to organize supply deliveries and notify users of testing locations.
WeChat has 19 million users in the U.S. and one billion users worldwide, according to The Verge.
Tencent proposed creating a separate U.S. version of WeChat, but U.S. officials said that plan was insufficient and insisted on a WeChat ban.
The WeChat ban would bar all app stores from distributing the app, and current WeChat users would be unable to update their apps. It also would prevent the app from conducting any transactions with U.S. users and from hosting or transferring traffic through the app.
Trump’s August executive orders aiming to ban WeChat and TikTok were met with the lawsuit from the WeChat Users Alliance, along with five individual WeChat users, requesting an injunction.
On Sept. 18, Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross said the Commerce Department was ready to begin enforcement of the WeChat ban, but Judge Beeler’s injunction prevented that action from moving forward.
If Judge Beeler does indeed decline to grant the government’s request to lift the preliminary injunction, the Trump administration would not be able to implement the WeChat ban while it appeals her September order, according to Business Insider.
Lawyers representing the Justice Department have asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit to overturn Judge Beeler’s order.
Have you ever used WeChat? Do you think it should be banned? Let us know in the comments.
The plaintiffs are represented by Michael William Bien, Alexander Ross Gourse, Amy Xu and Van Swearingen of Rosen Bien Galvan & Grunfeld LLP; Keliang Zhu of DeHeng Law Offices PC; Thomas R. Burke and David Gossett of Davis Wright Tremaine LLP; Clay Xiu of Deheng Law Offices PC; and Angus Ni of AFN Law PLLC.
The WeChat Ban Lawsuit is U.S. WeChat Users Alliance, et al. v. Donald J. Trump, et al., Case No. 3:20-cv-05910-LB, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.
Read About More Class Action Lawsuits & Class Action Settlements:
