Space News from SpaceDaily.com
US judge halts ban on WeChat downloads
ADVERTISEMENT


New York, Sept 20 (AFP) Sep 20, 2020
A US judge on Sunday blocked the government's ban on WeChat downloads, hours before it was due to take effect in an ongoing technology and espionage battle between Washington and Beijing.

The Trump administration had ordered the ban on downloads of video-sharing app TikTok as well as messaging platform WeChat, both owned by Chinese companies.

A California court ruling said it granted the "motion for a nationwide injunction against the implementation" of the government order, with the judge citing concerns over free speech.

The order against WeChat would have slowed it down and made it unusable in the United States for videochats with family and friends, according to experts.

Owned by technology giant TenCent, WeChat in the United States has around 19 million active daily users.

President Donald Trump said Saturday that he had approved a deal allowing Silicon Valley giant Oracle to become the data partner for hugely popular TikTok to avert a shutdown of that app.

The deal, announced by the companies, includes Walmart as a commercial partner and would create a new US company named TikTok Global.

TikTok -- owned by China's ByteDance -- confirmed the agreement, which came with companies racing against the Sunday deadline set by Trump's administration.

The US Department of Commerce on Saturday announced it was postponing the ban on TikTok downloads until September 27, due to "recent positive developments."

When announcing the ban on Friday, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross had said China used the two apps "to threaten the national security, foreign policy, and the economy of the US."


ADVERTISEMENT





Space News from SpaceDaily.com
SpaceX launches rockets from opposite coasts, ties mission total
Quantum radio receiver uses laser light and atomic resonance to detect microwaves
Atomic-6 Unveils Space Armor Tiles to Shield Spacecraft and Astronauts from High-Speed Debris

24/7 Energy News Coverage
US sinks international deal on decarbonising ships
Beyond Gravity boosts Swiss production of solar array mechanisms
Boron isotopes unlock secrets of nuclear waste glass corrosion

Military Space News, Nuclear Weapons, Missile Defense
Zelensky urges allies against appeasing Russia after US trip
Pakistan, Afghanistan agree to 'immediate ceasefire' in Qatar talks
Gaza reports 45 dead in Israeli strikes as truce breaches by both sides increase

24/7 News Coverage
A new analysis could map the ancient history of Earth's surface
Eagleview launches innovation center to expand AI-driven geospatial intelligence
Geologists discover the first evidence of 4.5-billion-year-old "proto Earth"



All rights reserved. Copyright Agence France-Presse. Sections of the information displayed on this page (dispatches, photographs, logos) are protected by intellectual property rights owned by Agence France-Presse. As a consequence, you may not copy, reproduce, modify, transmit, publish, display or in any way commercially exploit any of the content of this section without the prior written consent of Agence France-Presse.