A judge has blocked a US government attempt to ban the Chinese messaging and payments app, WeChat.
US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler said the ban raised serious questions related to the constitution’s first amendment, guaranteeing free speech.
The Department of Commerce had announced a bar on WeChat appearing in US app stores from Sunday, effectively shutting it down.
The Trump administration has alleged it threatens national security.
It says the app could pass user data to the Chinese government.
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Both WeChat and China have strongly denied the claim. Tencent, the conglomerate that owns WeChat, had previously described the US ban as “unfortunate”.
The ruling comes just after TikTok, which was also named in the Department of Commerce order, reached a deal with US firms Oracle and Walmart to hopefully allow them to keep operating
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