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WeChat users will not be penalised even if Chinese app is banned, US Justice Department says
- Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is set to release regulations by Sunday clarifying what WeChat transactions will be prohibited
- US WeChat users are seeking an injunction to bar the Trump administration from prohibiting the use of WeChat by individual users, businesses and groups
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WeChat users will not face civil or criminal penalties even if the United States bans the Chinese-owned messaging app through other actions next week, the Justice Department said on Wednesday.
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In August, President Donald Trump unveiled a proposed sweeping ban on US transactions with Tencent Holdings, owner of the popular mainland Chinese app. The executive order, which called WeChat and Bytedance’s short-video app TikTok “significant threats” to national security, followed stepped-up US efforts to purge “untrusted” Chinese apps from US digital networks.
Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is set to release regulations by Sunday clarifying what WeChat transactions will be prohibited.
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Stop offering ‘untrusted’ Chinese apps like TikTok and WeChat, Washington urges US tech companies
Stop offering ‘untrusted’ Chinese apps like TikTok and WeChat, Washington urges US tech companies
WeChat users have filed a motion in US District Court in San Francisco seeking a preliminary injunction to bar the Trump administration from prohibiting the use of WeChat in the United States by individual users, businesses and groups. A hearing on the request is for Thursday.
The Justice Department responded in a filing on Wednesday that Ross does not plan to target persons or groups who only download or use WeChat to convey personal or business information and said they would not face criminal or civil penalties.
But the department added that “use of the app for such communications could be directly or indirectly impaired through measures targeted at other transactions.”
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