US judge blocks Trump WeChat ban

Evidence that the messaging app poses a national security risk is 'modest,' court says

20200919 WeChat app store

Downloads of the WeChat and TikTok apps soared ahead of U.S. bans slated to take effect Sept. 20. (Photo by Yifan Yu)

YIFAN YU, Nikkei staff writer

PALO ALTO, U.S. -- A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration's ban on WeChat in an order made public Sunday, just hours before it would have taken effect.

After hearings that ended Saturday, Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler of U.S. District Court in San Francisco ordered a nationwide injunction on implementing the WeChat ban, which had been announced in an Aug. 6 executive order by President Donald Trump.

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