A group of WeChat users have petitioned a US court to suspend President Donald Trump’s decree banning any transactions with the owner of the social network, China’s Tencent.
According to Bloomberg, the lawsuit was filed Aug.21 in federal court in San Francisco, California. The plaintiffs, whose interests are represented by Chinese and American lawyers, drew attention to the fact that the decree did not say which transactions with Tencent were prohibited. That is, we are talking about infringement of the right of users to freedom of speech, in connection with which the decision of the White House may be unconstitutional.
“Neither the executive order nor the White House has provided concrete evidence to support the claim that the use of WeChat in the US undermines national security,” the lawsuit said.
The plaintiffs also noted that the decree was issued during the 2020 election campaign, when the American leader issued numerous anti-Chinese statements that promoted and incited racist prejudice against Chinese citizens and people of Chinese descent.
Many American companies and banks expressed concern to the White House about this decree, among them: Apple, Disney, Procter & Gamble, Intel, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, UPS, Merck, Cargill, Walmart, Ford Motor.