A US District Court judge issued a nationwide ruling against the president's executive order Donald Trump, thereby preventing the WeChat app from being banned in the country.
The decision concerned a lawsuit filed by WeChat users alleging that the ban undermines the free expression rights of US citizens.
The presiding judge in the case, Laurel Beeler, ruled that the WeChat ban should be lifted, as plaintiffs raised serious questions about whether the ban affects the US Constitution. He also acknowledged that the ban would put a lot of trouble on plaintiffs as it would shut down a major media outlet for the Chinese community.
Beeler added that she was not convinced whether the ban would address Trump's national security concerns because there was "too little evidence".
"Certainly national security is important. "But this record - while the government has shown that China's activities raise significant national security concerns - does not provide evidence that the ban on WeChat targeting all US users is effective in addressing these concerns." , Beeler told decision her.
"As the plaintiffs point out, there are obvious alternatives solutions instead of an outright ban, such as banning WeChat from government devices, as Australia has done, or taking other measures to address data security.”
The ban, which would have come into effect on Sunday, was announced by the Ministry US Trade late last week.
The ban sought to exclude TikTok and WeChat, as well as remove them from the apps Stores Apple and Google.
The ban would not prevent existing users from using the apps, as the apps were already installed before being removed from the App Stores.