Even if the attorney general announces specific actions next week to restrict China’s online communications platform, its users will not face civil or criminal penalties, the Justice Department said in a court filing Wednesday (Sept. 16, 2020).
President Trump on Aug. 6 issued an executive order prohibiting individuals or companies under U.S. jurisdiction from engaging in “any transactions” with Tencent, the Chinese company that owns WeChat, which will go into effect 45 days later, on Sept. 20. Trump called the ban a necessary security measure in response to the national emergency.
The executive order doesn’t specify what a “transaction” is.
Two days after the WeChat ban was issued, five Chinese lawyers formed the WeChat Users Federation of America and filed a complaint with five individual plaintiffs in San Francisco on August 21 in a Northern California federal district court, alleging that the executive order violates their freedom of speech, freedom of religious practice, and other constitutional rights. The court is expected to hear the lawsuit on Thursday.
WeChat has more than 1 billion users worldwide. It is estimated that there are about 19 million WeChat downloads in the United States, with users primarily in the Chinese community.
The Justice Department has said that specific restrictions on WeChat may affect users’ use of the service.
Recent Comments