Impending WeChat ban won’t actually ban users from WeChat, DOJ says

Enlarge / There's no ban on WeChat in the US right now, the DOJ says, which is true-but that's supposed to change, somehow, in the immediate future, and nobody knows how. (credit: Budrul Chukrut | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images)

Three days before a ban on the use of China-owned app WeChat in the United States is supposed to take effect, the Trump administration still hasn't said what specifically is being banned-only that individuals will not be penalized for using the app, despite the alleged threat it presents to national security.

Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross does "not intend to take actions that would target persons or groups whose only connection with WeChat is their use or downloading of the app to convey personal or business information between users, or otherwise define the relevant transactions in such a way that would impose criminal or civil liability on such users," attorneys for the Department of Justice wrote in a court filing (PDF).

Users of WeChat may find services "directly or indirectly impaired" by whatever measures the administration does end up imposing, the filing continued, but "use and downloading of the app for this limited purpose will not be a defined transaction."

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