Last month, President Joe Biden withdrew a series of
executive orders issued by former President Donald Trump that sought to ban new
downloads of WeChat, TikTok and other Chinese apps and ordered a new review.
The Commerce Department on June 22 formally withdrew a list
of prohibited transactions with ByteDance-owned TikTok and Tencent-owned WeChat
issued in September that sought to bar downloads of the apps.
The Justice Department said Monday that the government's
legal challenges were now moot. It asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia and the Third Circuit to dismiss its appeals.
Separately, the Justice Department said in a filing with the
Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that it had not decided how to proceed in its
appeal of a lower court ruling blocking restrictions on WeChat that the Trump
administration had sought to put in place.
The government said it was in talks with lawyers for the
WeChat users who had filed suit "about appropriate next steps in this
appeal." The government plans to inform the court about its decision by
July 26.
During Donald Trump's presidency, the Commerce Department
had also sought to bar other transactions that would have effectively banned
WeChat's use in the United States and later sought similar restrictions that
would have barred TikTok's use. Courts blocked all those restrictions from
taking effect.
The Biden order directed the Commerce Department to monitor
software applications like TikTok that could affect U.S. national security, as
well as to make recommendations within 120 days to protect U.S. data acquired
or accessible by companies controlled by foreign adversaries.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo told Reuters in a June 28
interview that the department was "just getting started" with its review
that will include an "evidence-based" analysis.
"The whole point of the executive order is to take
really strong steps to protect Americans' data from collection and utilization
by foreign adversaries," Raimondo said.
Biden's executive order also revoked another Trump order
signed in January that targeted eight other communications and financial
technology software applications.
That Trump order directed officials to ban transactions with
eight Chinese apps, including Ant Group's Alipay and Tencent's QQ Wallet and
WeChat pay. No bans were issued.
A separate U.S. national security review of TikTok, launched
in late 2019, remains active.
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