11TH HOUR

California Judge Overrules Trump Administration’s Ban of Chinese WeChat

The Trump administration had also banned TikTok in the U.S., effective Sunday night, but that was lifted when a deal with Oracle was approved.

A California judge blocked the Trump Administration’s ban of the Chinese-owned messaging service WeChat early Sunday, just hours before it was scheduled to be removed from American app stores. U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler ruled on a lawsuit filed by WeChat users, writing that the complaint has “shown serious questions going to the merits of the First Amendment claim, the balance of hardships tips in the plaintiffs’ favor.” Beeler’s preliminary injunction also overrules any transactions with already-downloaded versions of the messaging service, which could have degraded the program’s useablilty, according to Reuters.