In what ’s the belated update to the Trump Administration ’s … questionableplansfor getting China - base apps off of U.S. soil , Justice official are now clarifying that any future crackdown on WeChat wo n’t explicitly target people who only download the schmoose program for … chew the fat . This update come courtesy ofcourt docsfiled late yesterday responding to alawsuitfiled last month by the Wechat Users Alliance , a New Jersey - base nonprofit organization representing the tight to20 millionWeChatters in the US who would be directly touch under the Administration’scurrent plansto target the app .
WeChat was one of the targets of the dual - prongedexecutive orderthat Trump signed into action mechanism at the start of August , which , on newspaper , sought to ban U.S. party from doing stage business with either the Tencent - owned company or the ByteDance - own TikTok , both of which were claimed to pose a “ significant ” ( albeitentirely unproven ) threat to national security . While the phraseology on TikTok ’s order was wiggly enough to let it get around these care if it wasbought outby an American technical school firm , the provisions for WeChat were right smart more stringent , ban all “ minutes ” between American citizens and the app itself .
But because while WeChat does facilitate defrayment between user , a “ dealings ” can be construed as just about anything — including , say , mail a text to your parents who might live oversea , or even just give the app itself — citizenry truly miss their shit . This , in turn of events , conduce to the Alliance lawyering up , which contribute to the backpedaling we ’re seeing from the DOJ .
Photo: Drew Angerer (Getty Images)
And of line , the backpedalling is just as faint as the gild that preceded it :
While the Department of Commerce continues to review a range of transactions , include those that could straight or indirectly impact use of the WeChat app , we can provide assurances that the secretary does not mean to take action that would aim persons or groups whose only connection with WeChat is their role or downloading of the app to transmit personal or business information between substance abuser , or otherwise define the relevant transactions in such a way that would levy vicious or polite liability on such drug user .
In other words , while use of the app for such communication could be directly or indirectly vitiate through measure targeted at other dealing , use and downloading of the app for this modified purpose will not be a specify transaction , and such user will not be direct or open to penalty .
Yeah , I do n’t really get it either .
It look like this response , which was file by Assistant AG Jeffrey Bossert Clark , wo n’t limit download or texting on WeChat as a “ dealings ” that could be penalized under the order , but still leaves the door unfastened for these drug user to be “ straight or indirectly ” harmed by whatever order finally give anyway .
He still refuses to define what the hell a “ transaction ” was supposed to imply in the first place — and reading through thecourt document , it ’s revealed that ’s largely because the Secretary of Commerce has n’t even get along to a terminal determination himself on what the hell a transaction entail . The EO , in other words , was vague as hell because the administration ’s understanding of the apps , the ecosystems they exercise within , and the actual surety threats they face are obscure as hell , too .
Summing all that up , it looks like Clark is trying to mollify these million of American users while … refusing to actually clarify anything about the order that got them so rile up in the first place . Meanwhile , there ’s still the very potential chance that family behind the scene will eventually croak something that still directly harms them anyway : even if we specify a “ transaction ” as a financial one , this would n’t only think users who conduct in - app payments would be bedevil under the bus , but literally every other WeChat user as well . Anyone who ’s date ads play within their TikTok app , by definition , is engaging in a fiscal transaction between that drug user and the advertiser on the other ending , since that app is make money off of their eyeballs , regardless of whether or not they ultimately click . Under the current EO , it ’s likely that these sort of shenanigans might be moot an “ indirect ” financial dealing , while those using WeChat ’s payment system would be considered “ direct ” client , but your surmise ( and the Administration ’s , for that matter ) is as dear as mine .
The effectual team repping the WeChat Alliance in this case shot backa filingof their own in response not long after , which can be summed up as eight Sir Frederick Handley Page of “ dude , seriously ? ” :
Having first give out to articulate any literal national surety concern , the brass ’s latest “ assurances ” that drug user can keep using WeChat , and exchange their personal and business selective information , only further illustrates the hollowness and pre - textual nature of suspect ’ “ national certificate ” rationale .
Was charge dick - first into isolationism a stunned idea after all ? It ’s simply impossible to say .
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