Tencent seeks 'long-term solution' as judge halts U.S. WeChat ban

A federal judge has blocked the U.S. Commerce Department from requiring Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google to remove Chinese-owned messaging app WeChat for downloads by late Sunday. 

U.S. Magistrate Judge Laurel Beeler in San Francisco said in an order that WeChat users who filed a lawsuit "have shown serious questions going to the merits of the First Amendment claim, the balance of hardships tips in the plaintiffs' favor," Reuters reported.

In her 22-page order, Beeler said the prohibitions "burden substantially more speech than is necessary to serve the government's significant interest in national security, especially given the lack of substitute channels for communication."

She added "The regulation – which eliminates a channel of communication without any apparent substitutes – burdens substantially more speech than is necessary to further the government's significant interest."

The U.S. Commerce Department did not immediately comment.

Earlier on Sunday, WeChat developer Tencent said the company will continue to negotiate for a long-term solution.

"The company has been and will continue to negotiate with the U.S. government and other U.S. stakeholders to reach a long-term solution," the statement said.

The Chinese tech giant also stated that it is further evaluating the impact of prohibited transaction identification on the company.

The U.S. Commerce Department announced on Friday that it planned to ban WeChat from U.S. app stores and bar the app from accessing essential internet services in the U.S., citing "national security" concerns.

The order followed President Donald Trump's executive order signed in August, giving U.S. businesses 45 days to stop working with the Chinese company, with Sunday (September 20) as the deadline.

"As an application serving users worldwide, WeChat has always complied with local laws and regulations. Its data policies and procedures meet the strictest privacy standards in the world," Tencent said in a statement previously.

WeChat is an all-in-one mobile app that combines services similar to Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram as well as Venmo and is essential to the daily lives of many in China, boasting more than one billion users.

According to analytics firms Apptopia, in early August, WeChat was popular among Chinese students, ex-pats and some Americans who have personal or business relationships in China, with an average of 19 million daily active users in the United States.