![]() ![]() The lawsuit was filed by a group of WeChat users who weren’t affiliated with the company behind the app, Tencent Holdings. ![]() In September 2020 US Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco temporarily blocked the US administration’s ban on WeChat that required Apple and Google to remove the app from their app stores. Judge temporarily blocks the ban on WeChat Even in the US, employees of many financial firms conduct their business using the messaging app and WeChat compliance regulations are in place to ensure the integrity of the financial market. It is because Weixin, the Chinese name for WeChat, is used by millions of people in China to pay for their goods, food, pay bills, etc. The scope of the ban raised a lot of confusion in the country and analysts were of the view that if the US government force Apple Inc to remove the WeChat app from their Chinese app store, it would deal a big blow to Apple and many other US companies operating in China. According to a court filing by US Justice Department, if you a user had already downloaded the WeChat app, she could still use the messaging, social media and payment app without penalty. The WeChat app had been installed 22 million times through the Apple App Store and the Google Play StoreĮven after the app ban, users who had the WeChat app already downloaded could continue using it, but if the app is kicked out of Apple Store or Google Play Store, then you won’t get the updates for the app, which would make the app more vulnerable. As of August 2020, WeChat had 3.3 million active monthly users in the US. Though WeChat is not a very popular messaging app in the US, many use it to communicate with friends and family overseas – particularly those in China. The administration claimed that WeChat offers China a conduit to collect data about American citizens and to censor the news and information shared by WeChat’s more than a billion monthly active users. Other options include video conferencing apps, like Zoom, Skype, or Houseparty, the last of which is partly owned by Epic Games, a video game maker partly owned by Tencent.In August 2020, the Trump administration in the United States announced sweeping restrictions on the popular Chinese social media and messaging app WeChat (and also Tik Tok) citing national security concerns to bar any transactions with WeChat by any person or involving any property subject to the jurisdiction of the United States. ![]() Some can require some technical know how, like installing a VPN, to circumvent Chinese censorship. There are other options for people living in China to stay in touch with their relations abroad. CEO Joel Wallenstrom told tech blog the Verge in 2018 that “people trust very secure stuff to Wickr, and they’re trusting us not only to secure the data but that we’ll get it where it needs to be.” VPN and video conferencing The encrypted messaging service uses a VPN-like method to remain operational in nations where it might otherwise be censored. WickrĪnother chat app that may work is Wickr, which can’t be downloaded in China, but it can be brought into the country after being downloaded elsewhere. Facebook’s WhatsApp uses the same underlying software to protect its 2 billion users.įor now, Signal is not banned in China, and its downloads have been surging in the wake of the impending WeChat ban. You might be using Signal’s tech already and not even even realize it. The technology helps keep conversations safe, secure, and private. Signal has been praised by cybersecurity researchers as having best-of-breed encryption. ![]()
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