While TikTok is finally facing a way out of its banishment from the United States, after the application reached a possible agreement with Walmart and Oracle, with the “blessing” of US President Donald Trump, the same cannot be said of WeChat – the messenger that also has a Chinese origin.
Like TikTok, the app also received, in August, a 45-day deadline to resolve disputes with the country, otherwise, it would be banned and its downloads on Google’s Playstore and Apple’s App Store would be blocked.
The deadline would come to an end today (20), the date on which the application would finally be blocked for further downloads. However, a California judge’s decision may postpone that sentence. The magistrate, Laurel Beeler, said in her report that some users of the messaging app presented “serious issues related to the merits of the First Amendment claim, the balance of difficulties favors the plaintiffs.”
This group in question reported that the ban would violate due process and users’ freedom of expression rights and filed a lawsuit last month against banning the app. The lawsuit argues that a large group of WeChat users in the United States, who are Chinese-Americans, would be harmed by the blockade, as they could lose communication with their friends and relatives living in China.
The process explains, even though WeChat is “the main app Chinese speakers in the US use to participate in social life by connecting with loved ones, sharing special moments, discussing ideas, receiving recent news, and participating in political discussions.”
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After the injunction, which blocked the Commerce Department’s order banning WeChat downloads in the United States, the agency has yet to comment on the judge’s decision.
Source: theverge
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