WeChat users sue White House to fight executive order banning the app
A group of WeChat users filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration on Friday, in an attempt to put a stop to an executive order that would effectively ban the app from use in the United States.
Filed in the US District Court in San Francisco, the lawsuit aims to end an executive order issued by Donald Trump on August 7, that would prevent US-based companies from performing transactions with ByteDance and Tencent, the owners of TikTok and WeChat respectively. If enacted, the ban would have basically ended the use of both apps on September 20, but a later executive order extended TikTok's deadline from 45 to 90 days, to assist ByteDance's bid to divest its holdings in the service.The lawsuit, reported by The Wall Street Journal claims the executive order is unconstitutional, including violating the right to free speech for WeChat users, as well as issues with due process and equal protection under law. It is also claimed the ban is illegally targeting Chinese-Americans who may use the app to communicate with Chinese citizens.
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