MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 20th September, 2020) A judge in the US state of California has temporarily blocked the attempts of the administration of US President Donald Trump to ban downloads of the Chinese messaging service WeChat, according to a court ruling that was published online on Sunday.
US magistrate judge Laurel Beeler issued the ruling according to an order dated on Saturday. A group of plaintiffs claiming to be US-based WeChat users brought the case to court, saying that an executive order issued by US President Donald Trump blocking downloads of the application impinged on their constitutional rights to free speech.
"Without a stay, at least on this record, a ban of WeChat eliminates all meaningful access to communication in the plaintiffs' community. The public interest favors the protection of the plaintiffs' constitutional rights," the court order read.
Judge Beeler said that there were alternatives to a blanket ban, such as prohibiting downloads of WeChat on government devices and taking other steps to address data security concerns, according to the order.
Trump signed executive orders on August 7 giving companies within the US legal system 45 days to stop all transactions from China's ByteDance and Tencent firms. WeChat, a popular messaging service, is owned by Chinese tech giant Tencent and has an average of 19 million daily active users in the United States, the Apptopia analytics firm said in August.
