WeChat ban: US Court of Appeal rejects instant download of Tencent app

The U.S. Court of Appeals on Monday rejected a court request to allow the government to immediately ban Apple and Alphabet’s Google from offering Tencent’s payments for download in U.S. app stores.

In a brief order of the three-judge panel for the Ninth Round Court of Appeals, the government did not prove that “immediate, irreparable injury occurs while this appeal is pending.”

On Friday, a U.S. judge in San Francisco rejected a lawsuit filed by Wechad in response to a lawsuit filed by Wechad users seeking to overturn a decision by the U.S. Department of Commerce to block the Wechad ban.

WeChat users said the ruling would avoid “unprecedented suspension of a key communication platform trusted by millions in the United States.”

The Department of Commerce order, which went into effect Sept. 20, would also bar other U.S. transactions with WeChat, making the application unusable in the United States.

The Court of Appeal said the case would be placed on its January 2021 calendar.

The Tencent and Commerce Department did not immediately comment.

The judiciary argues that DicTok, a WeChat and Chinese short video sharing utility, threatens U.S. national security.

WeChat has an average of 19 million daily active users in the United States. It is popular with Chinese students, Americans living in China, and some Americans who have personal or business relationships in China.

WeChat is an all-in-one mobile application that integrates services such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Venmo. This application is an essential part of everyday life for many people in China and has more than 1 billion users.

In a similar case, the U.S. Court of Appeals agreed to expedite the government’s appeal of a ruling that barred the government from banning new dictator downloads.

© Thomson Reuters 2020

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