Chinese Apps TikTok, WeChat Won't Be Banned

A judge has blocked a Department of Commerce ban on a Chinese messaging app. The judge said there wasn't enough specific evidence against the app to override free speech complaints.

The department introduced the ban on WeChat (along with video app TikTok) following an executive order from the President. The ban meant it was illegal for app stores to distribute or update the apps in the US. The ban also outlawed US use of WeChat's mobile payment facility, which is hugely popular with American citizens of Asian descent. One estimate puts the number of US users at 19 million.

In both cases, the executive order and ban were based on the argument that the apps collected personal data and were operated by businesses that are forced to cooperate with China's intelligence services. The Department of Commerce said this created "unacceptable risks to our national security." (Source: commerce.gov)

Related:

• More Evidence WeChat Is Recording Private Messages for Beijing to Spy on Users
• Is it time to delete TikTok? A guide to the rumors and the real privacy risks.

TikTok Finds US Solution

TikTok appears to have already found a way round the ban by striking a deal with Oracle and Walmart. They'll buy in to the company and set up a new US operation. Oracle will store all TikTok data from US users and will have the right to inspect the app's source code to make sure no sensitive information is being passed to China.

Contrastingly, US users of WeChat challenged the executive order in court. US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler granted a preliminary injunction which means the order's legal effect is temporarily suspended.

Free Speech At Stake

Beeler wasn't ruling on whether the order itself was legal, but rather that there was a credible possibility of the arguments against it being upheld. In particular, she said there were "serious questions" about whether the ban constituted an unfair restriction of free speech. (Source: courtlistener.com)

She said the court system would need to decide not only if there was enough specific evidence of a security risk from WeChat to justify measures against it, but also if an outright ban was a narrow enough response to the risk or too broad to be justified.

The case will likely now go to an appeals court.

Related:

• WeChat appears to be spying on foreigners' chats to fuel censorship algorithm
• Chinese App Detector Banned From Google

What's Your Opinion?

Should the President have the power to ban apps from the US through an executive order? How should the legal system balance free speech against security risks? Should such issues have hard-and-fast rules or be more about the specific evidence and circumstances of each situation?