WeChat Users in U.S. Renew Bid to Block Trump Ban on Chinese App

Edvard Pettersson, Bloomberg News

The WeChat app in the App Store on a smartphone. Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- WeChat users in the U.S. revived their request in court to block the Trump administration’s restrictions on the Chinese-owned messaging app, ahead of a Sunday deadline to remove the app from American stores.

A U.S. judge, who on Thursday said she was willing to halt implementation of the president’s order because of its lack of detail, said Friday that the request by the WeChat users group to block Trump’s ban on the app because it was too vague was “moot” after the U.S. detailed what the order entails.

WeChat will have to end payments through its service as of Sunday and will be prohibited from getting technical services from vendors, according to the Commerce Department. Downloads of the app will also be prohibited as of Sunday. But the government said users won’t be penalized.

The users group argued in a court filing Friday that the Commerce Department’s explanation of prohibited use doesn’t address its concerns.

“The Secretary’s promulgation proves exactly the opposite: The scope of the prohibition remains unclear, lost in qualifying phrases and caveats, and thus users are appropriately fearful that their conduct will be banned,” the group said.

The judge scheduled a hearing for 11:45 a.m. in California to consider further arguments from the users, who claim that Trump’s executive order would remove a vital channel for communicating with family and friends in China and the U.S.

The administration has said the ban is driven by national security concerns about the Chinese government’s ability to access data through the app. In a Friday court filing, shortly before the judge ruled, U.S. lawyers cited an opinion piece published in The New York Times on Thursday which called Chinese plans for WeChat and other apps “much more sinister” than even Trump believed.

The WeChat users group has said that Trump’s order is driven by election-year politics.

“What we have feared has happened,” the group said in a statement. “Despite the public ‘assurances’ provided by the Department of Justice to the court on Wednesday that individual users will not be affected, the U.S. government is banning WeChat completely.”

The case is U.S. WeChat Users Alliance v. Trump, 3:20-cv-5910, U.S. District Court, District of Northern California (San Francisco).